EDITORIAL: Obamacare is working. So why repeal it?
By Bangor Daily News, Maine | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
That "pitfall" is the law's success, which is undermining many of the talking points the law's Republican opponents have relied on for months to create the narrative that there's no way the Affordable Care Act can succeed.
Except that it is succeeding and working largely as planned.
A year ago, the
On top of surpassing enrollment projections, those who have enrolled are paying their premiums -- about 90 percent have made their first payments -- undermining yet another cynical Republican talking point about the law and those benefiting it.
The makeup of enrollees appears to be a relatively balanced mix of young and old, meaning there are young, likely healthy enrollees to balance out the older, potentially sicker adults in the risk pool. And more than half of those now enrolled in an exchange-offered plan did not previously have health insurance. A
As more have secured insurance through the exchanges -- through
To top everything off, the premiums new enrollees are paying aren't busting their budgets. In
Of course, many still make the philosophical argument that the government should not be controlling health care, which constitutes a sixth of the national economy. Some argue, then, that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with a vaguely defined free market system in which competition among private insurers keeps prices in check.
To those who make such an argument: Obamacare is your private market system in which competition reigns.
As the open enrollment period for 2015 approaches, more insurers -- large and small -- are entering the marketplace and expanding their footprints to offer plans and vie for business. In
Government's role? Ascertain the products meet a certain quality threshold, ensure consumers can afford coverage and guarantee consumers the specific protections they're granted under the law.
The Affordable Care Act has not played out perfectly, and public opinion still has not shifted decisively in its favor (likely because many of those benefiting from it -- and satisfaction among that crowd is high -- aren't crediting Obamacare). But any imperfection -- technological malfunctions, botched contracting and difficulty in verifying insurance enrollees' income -- falls far short of dooming a needed law to failure. And the law's growing list of successes go a long way to undermine opponents' dwindling repository of anti-Obamacare talking points.
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