Analyzing healthcare policy reform through system dynamics

Healthcare reform has leapt to the forefront of the public consciousness in recent years. This politically charged and complex issue has become a source of major disagreement among policy makers and has led to a plethora of differing opinions. The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on March 23, 2010 marked a decisive shift in the debate with the country no longer burdened by the question of which reforms to implement, dispute over the future affects of the bill have taken center stage. This shift has done little to reconcile the existing ideological divide, a sharp dichotomy between political camps that makes unbiased evaluation of the PPACA's potential effects difficult if not impossible. With the future direction of the country under consideration and the debate growing increasingly intense, objective analyses of the healthcare reform bill are needed now more than ever. This thesis seeks to demonstrate the applicability of systems thinking tools, specifically system dynamics, to the complex issue of healthcare policy reform. We believe that such an effort would make a significant contribution to the ongoing healthcare debate and provide a resource for policy makers to objectively evaluate the efficacy and systemic effects of the PPACA.