Peter Suderman on Paying for Obamacare
From the earliest days of Barack Obama's presidency, much of the debate about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—the health care law known as Obamacare—has revolved around questions of cost.
Would the law reduce the cost of typical family health insurance premiums? Would it reduce the federal budget deficit? Would it slow the unsustainable growth of national health spending? The law's backers initially insisted that it would do all three, and over time took to arguing that its positive effects were already visible. But as the law settles into place, Peter Suderman notes, the pretense that the Affordable Care Act actually makes health care more affordable is increasingly difficult to sustain.