This is probably very late, but what is Obamacare? I see people complaining that it failed, but why if so?

Question

I was born, raised and live in the U.K. I am 24 years old. I remember, on the face of things, Obamacare being a step forward for the shenanigans which is the U.S. healthcare system. But, I often see posts stating it failed. Someone please explain 🙂

I hold our NHS in high regard. I cannot imagine a healthcare system which can leave people who have worked, paid taxes for 30 years+ and are all round good citizens in financial ruins. What exactly is Obamacare and why do people say it failed?

In: Other

Answer 1

Others have already covered the major components of the program, so I’ll focus on the question “why do people say it failed”.

This is kind of loaded question because it depends on your definition of success. In terms of reducing the uninsured rate it was a great success: it got us to a 90% insured rate which is the highest it’s ever been in history. It also established protection for pre-existing conditions and allowed young people to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26 which are both hugely positive accomplishments. I will also add this was the first major change to the US healthcare system after *decades* of attempts, so just the fact that anything got passed is honestly a success.

Now where did it go wrong? For one thing it didn’t really improve healthcare quality; it mostly focused on getting more people covered. For another it didn’t quite go as far as people liked – it got the uninsured rate to historic lows but not to 0%, and it didn’t help to stop the ballooning prices.

Why did it fall short? Largely due to politics. Democrats had to make major concessions just to get something passed. I don’t really think it’s fair to call that a failure because it’s better to make some progress than no progress. One of the concessions was the removal of the public option. That part was critical for driving down cost. Basically the idea is if everyone is required to get insurance, and there’s an affordable government option, then private companies would have to lower their prices in order to stay competitive. It’s really too bad that this part had to get removed, and if we could get it passed it would really go a long way.