US Efforts to Realise the Right to Health through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Abstract

The political acceptance and policy implementation of the right to health long remained uncertain in the United States (US), leaving it until recently as the only developed nation without policies to realise universal health coverage. By re-engaging longstanding debates on government obligations to secure the health of every American, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (‘Affordable Care Act’ or ACA) draws on an internationally recognised conception of a human right to health, seeking to progressively realise the ‘highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’ through policies that ensure the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of health care. With the US Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of most key aspects of the Affordable Care Act, this precedent-setting decision has created an imperative for health care reform in the United States and a model for realising universal health coverage pursuant to the right to health. This article examines the evolution, implementation and implications of US efforts to realise health-related rights through health care policy. In the evolution of norms for health, Section 2 examines the intertwined history of US