Obamacare: Four tumultuous years

Obamacare turned 4 this week, said Joseph Curl in WashingtonTimes.com. “But unlike a human offspring, which would be developing by leaps and bounds, the poor little government program is still peeing the bed.” The law that President Obama signed in March 2010 to supposedly provide insurance to 46 million Americans has been a failure every step of the way: its comically botched rollout, the broken promise that Americans could keep their insurance, and the nearly two dozen unilateral changes to the law by panicked administration officials in the last six months alone. The Affordable Care Act is failing even on its own terms—providing “universal coverage,” said John Goodman in WSJ.com. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama-care will leave 31 million people uninsured, despite $1.7 trillion of spending over a decade. That’s one “costly failed experiment.”

“I’ve never seen a law get so little recognition for doing so much good so quickly,” said Phil Schiliro in Politico.com. Five million people have signed up through the insurance marketplaces, 3 million young adults gained coverage through their parents, and millions more became eligible for Medicaid. Up to 120 million Americans no longer face sky-high premiums because of pre-existing conditions. Meanwhile, the rate of increase in health spending is “at its lowest point in 50 years.” Too bad most Americans don’t know any of this, said Robert Reich in HuffingtonPost.com. Business owners and the uninsured remain “confused and frightened” about the law, with 41 percent of the uninsured saying they plan to remain that way. Their fear is the result of propaganda and bogus scare stories “deliberately sown” by Republicans.

Even if Republicans regain the White House in 2016, said Byron York in WashingtonExaminer.com, it will be politically difficult to repeal Obamacare. While Republicans generally agree on an alternative approach involving tax credits and more consumer choice, they haven’t come close to embracing a single Obamacare replacement plan. Under any new GOP plan, millions of people would lose coverage and subsidies they now have—creating the same kind of furious backlash the White House is currently facing. Repealing Obamacare might make sense on conservative principles, but would it be the smart political move? After years of disruptive new rules, a fatigued public may not be in the mood for another big fix of the health-care system.

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