Ron Fournier of National Journal contends President Obama is reading too much into enrollment numbers tied to the Affordable Care Act.
President Obama confuses high enrollment numbers with success on Obamacare, ignoring the obvious fact that millions of Americans are signed up but not sold.
“The point is, the repeal debate is and should be over. The Affordable Care Act is working,” the president said while announcing the enrollment of more than 8 million Americans. That is not the point. The debate is not over.
The fact is that Americans are required under the ACA to obtain health insurance or pay a tax. After a rocky launch, the administration cleared the first and easiest hurdle in a long road to implementation: Enforcing a mandate.
Now the White House has to show that a massive new marketplace, overseen by a distrusted federal government, can shrink the pool of uninsured without enraging the majority of people who are relatively happy with their status quo. This is the hard part that Obama glossed over when he disingenuously promised voters that they could keep their doctor and insurance plans if they liked them. Rather than honestly explain the complicated law and ask for patience and shared sacrifice, the president dissembled.
And now he pays.