ShopDreamUp AI ArtDreamUp
Deviation Actions
What happens in the next five years may be just as important to Kathleen Sebelius's legacy as what she did in the last five. That's because the law she helped shepherd into existence as secretary of Health and Human Services, the Affordable Care Act, remains very much a work in progress.
By one crucial and fundamental measure, the law is living up to its name: More Americans now have access to affordable health care. Enrollment in the Obamacare exchanges started slowly but has hit 7.5 million, with at least 3 million people newly covered by Medicaid and another 3 million young adults on their parents' plans. The latest estimates predict that by 2016, 25 million Americans will have health insurance who otherwise wouldn't.
This is no small achievement, and to reach it Sebelius had to overcome the law's unwieldy structure. Its combination of subsidies, penalties and inducement was the result of political bargaining with an array of powerful and stubborn constituencies. Making it all work would have been an ambitious undertaking in any environment. But Sebelius wasn't working in just any environment: Obamacare was hounded from the outset by a Republican Party that defined itself largely by its relentless opposition to the law -- in Congress, the courts and the states.
As more Americans get insurance because of the law, this kind of knee-jerk opposition to it will inevitably decline. That's not to say, however, that the law can't be improved upon; its long-term success remains an open question. One of its main goals, for example, was to reduce costs, and it's simply too soon to tell whether the recent slowdown is the result of Obamacare -- or, if it is, whether that slowdown will last.
Even if the law succeeds on all counts, Sebelius's legacy will inevitably have to contend with the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov, a mostly self-inflicted failure at the worst possible moment. The website, which was visited by 4.7 million people on its first day but allowed only six to sign up, was eventually fixed. But it did lasting damage to not only the administration's reputation but also the idea of governmental competence.
Now the task of repair and improvement will fall to Sylvia Burwell, the well-regarded director of the Office of Management and Budget who President Barack Obama has nominated as Sebelius's replacement. Burwell will have responsibility for the success of the Affordable Care Act -- and in many ways she'll be the keeper of Kathleen Sebelius's legacy.
To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg View's editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net.
Read more here: www.bloombergview.com/articles…
By one crucial and fundamental measure, the law is living up to its name: More Americans now have access to affordable health care. Enrollment in the Obamacare exchanges started slowly but has hit 7.5 million, with at least 3 million people newly covered by Medicaid and another 3 million young adults on their parents' plans. The latest estimates predict that by 2016, 25 million Americans will have health insurance who otherwise wouldn't.
This is no small achievement, and to reach it Sebelius had to overcome the law's unwieldy structure. Its combination of subsidies, penalties and inducement was the result of political bargaining with an array of powerful and stubborn constituencies. Making it all work would have been an ambitious undertaking in any environment. But Sebelius wasn't working in just any environment: Obamacare was hounded from the outset by a Republican Party that defined itself largely by its relentless opposition to the law -- in Congress, the courts and the states.
As more Americans get insurance because of the law, this kind of knee-jerk opposition to it will inevitably decline. That's not to say, however, that the law can't be improved upon; its long-term success remains an open question. One of its main goals, for example, was to reduce costs, and it's simply too soon to tell whether the recent slowdown is the result of Obamacare -- or, if it is, whether that slowdown will last.
Even if the law succeeds on all counts, Sebelius's legacy will inevitably have to contend with the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov, a mostly self-inflicted failure at the worst possible moment. The website, which was visited by 4.7 million people on its first day but allowed only six to sign up, was eventually fixed. But it did lasting damage to not only the administration's reputation but also the idea of governmental competence.
Now the task of repair and improvement will fall to Sylvia Burwell, the well-regarded director of the Office of Management and Budget who President Barack Obama has nominated as Sebelius's replacement. Burwell will have responsibility for the success of the Affordable Care Act -- and in many ways she'll be the keeper of Kathleen Sebelius's legacy.
To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg View's editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net.
Read more here: www.bloombergview.com/articles…
No, Trump DID NOT call the coronavirus a 'hoax.'
What's True
During a Feb. 28, 2020, campaign rally in South Carolina, President Donald Trump likened the Democrats' criticism of his administration's response to the new coronavirus outbreak to their efforts to impeach him, saying "this is their new hoax." During the speech he also seemed to downplay the severity of the outbreak, comparing it to the common flu.
What's False
Despite creating some confusion with his remarks, Trump did not call the coronavirus itself a hoax.
Even the liars at Snopes could not bring themselves to agree with certain people here on DA https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-coronavirus-rally-remark/
And what w
Simple question for leftists
How many more people need to die in England, France, Sweden, Germany- and very likely, an increasingly long list of other nations- before you figure out that ISLAM is the problem?
WattsUpWithThat recognized among top science blogs
WattsUpWithThat- the top climate skeptic blog on the internet- has been chosen as one of the top 100 science blogs!
Anthony Watts' article plus comments https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/09/28/wuwt-awarded-top-science-blog-status-beats-realclimate-nyt-guardian-huffpo/comment-page-1/#comment-2308295
The science site itself http://blog.feedspot.com/science_blogs/
Pro-AGW type admits a truth about his side.
'The great oddity of the climate science debate
“Ad hominem attacks aren’t a final line of defense, they’re argument #1. …It’s about an attitude, the sense that righteousness excuses you from the need for hard thinking and that any questioning of the righteous is treason.” {By Paul Krugman. Quite true, as any skeptic quickly learns when discussing climate with an activist.}
Activists consider forecasts of models as like the Word of God.' ~ paul krugman
You KNOW something is right with the world when pro-'all-catastrophic, all-the-time and all-YOUR-fault climate change' activist (and supposedly economist)
Featured in Groups
© 2014 - 2024 PoliticalDebateClub
Comments0
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In