What Obamacare’s Successes Tell About Its Failures: HuffPo

Summary: “It’s come to be known as Obamacare. Sometimes it seems more like O-drama-care. Nearly a decade has passed since Democrats first began promoting the initiative that eventually became the Affordable Care Act. And at no point has their effort to reform America’s dysfunctional health care system gone easily,” Jonathan Cohn writes over at The Huffington Post. “Passing the law was a struggle, and then implementing it was, too. Now there are new problems. Many of the nation’s largest insurers say they are losing big money on the policies they sell through the program’s exchanges. Some of these companies have responded by jacking up rates. Others are dropping out of the markets altogether. Consumers who relied on these plans may have to pay more or switch plans next year, and they may not have many alternatives. But the focus on what’s going wrong with Obamacare makes it easy to lose sight of what’s going right. The law has ended the insurance industry’s most pernicious practices, fostered improvements in the way doctors and hospitals deliver care and brought the number of Americans without coverage to a historic low. Some state markets appear to be working just fine, and at least a few insurers are making money.” Jonathan Cohn, “What Obamacare’s Successes Should Tell Us About Its Failures,” The Huffington Post.