The rollout of the Affordable Care Act is one of the most dismal policy failures ever to take place at the federal level. The ACA has resulted in the cancellation of millions of existing policies and rapidly rising health insurance costs. The mostly inoperable website has become a symbol of an overly complex, unworkable law. The Congressional Budget Office now estimates that 31 million Americans will be left uninsured when the ACA is fully in place. By definition it will have failed in its primary mission. The President’s plan does recognize, however, that there is a health care problem. The United States is the only industrialized democracy that allows its citizens to go bankrupt from health care bills. Millions of Americans are without health insurance (those that would like to see the true figures for the uninsured, which are substantially lower than the “official” figure should see Beyond Those Healthcare Numbers, by Gregory Mankiw, New York Times, November 4, 2007). Many millions more fear that a job loss or sudden illness will result in bankruptcy. If the Republican Party plans to recapture the middle class and working poor, this problem must be addressed. The … [Read more...]