ObamaCare proves surprisingly resilient
ObamaCare is showing its resilience after a year where in which it took a beating but survived.
A surprisingly high number of people signed up under the law in the enrollment period that ended last week: 8.8 million, just short of the 9.2 million from last year.
And that was despite the Trump administration’s attacks on the healthcare law, cutbacks on outreach, and an enrollment period that was half as long as previous ones.
The enrollment numbers suggest that a core group of people, though smaller than what architects of the law originally imagined, wants health insurance and will sign up despite any obstacles in their way.
“The ACA seems to have more lives than your neighborhood cat,” said Larry Levitt, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
“It’s a smaller and less functional program than supporters had originally hoped, but it’s still doing the job of [keeping] the uninsured rate at the lowest level ever,” he added.
In Congress, the zeal among Republicans for repealing the law appears to be fading somewhat. Some lawmakers are still pushing to revive repeal efforts next year, but important figures are signaling that would be difficult and it could be time to move on.
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/366239-obamacare-proves-surprisingly-resilient?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=12800
