{"id":3329,"date":"2015-12-28T16:49:55","date_gmt":"2015-12-28T21:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/?p=3329"},"modified":"2016-01-20T18:00:47","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T23:00:47","slug":"chait-sorry-conservatives-obamacare-is-still-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napervilledemocrats.org\/ntdo\/chait-sorry-conservatives-obamacare-is-still-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Chait: Sorry, Conservatives, Obamacare Is Still Working"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regardless of what the GOP wishes were true, Obamacare is working very well, thank you very much, with fewer Americans than ever lacking health insurance, and premiums remaining lower than forecasts. \u00a0Having initially predicted utter collapse, in the face of continued positive developments Republicans\u00a0have “[o]ver time [ … ] retreated slowly, never conceding that Obamacare is working as designed, and trying to make use of whatever bits of gloomy news can be found.” \u00a0How twisted\u00a0is it that the entire GOP\u00a0has defined itself around cheering for\u00a0fewer Americans to have health care?<\/p>\n

Again, why would any decent person choose to associate him- or herself with today’s GOP?<\/p>\n

Here’s Jonathan Chait:<\/p>\n

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Sorry, Conservatives, Obamacare Is Still Working<\/a><\/h2>\n

Two years ago this time, conservatives were giddily predicting that Obamacare would collapse<\/a>, \u201ca failure of the administrative state on a level unimagined even by its staunchest critics,\u201d a failure<\/a> \u201cso catastrophic that vulnerable Democratic Senators and even President Obama could come to view repeal as the face-saving option.\u201d Over time, they have retreated slowly, never conceding that Obamacare is working as designed, and trying to make use of whatever bits of gloomy news can be found. Ross Douthat\u2019s Sunday column<\/a>, as it so often does, offers the least unreasonable iteration of the deranged state of conservative thinking on Obamacare. While no longer collapsing spectacularly, Obamacare is now sadly limping along in disappointing fashion, remaining just healthy enough not to expire.<\/p>\n

To bolster this case, Douthat makes four points against the law. Here they are in order. Individually, and collectively, they present a wildly misleading picture of a law that continues to work very well. Douthat:<\/p>\n

First, after the initial surge, Obamacare\u2019s enrollment numbers have mostly disappointed. Not in a catastrophic way \u2014 the law has knocked down the U.S. uninsured rate toabout 11-12 percent<\/a>, compared to a pre-Great Recession level of 14-15 percent. But depending on how you cut the numbers<\/a>, it looks like the Obamacare exchanges will fall at least four million enrollees short<\/a> of the target for 2016.<\/p>\n

First, note that Douthat compares the uninsured rate to its level before the recession \u2014 which assumes it would have returned to that level on its own. This is unlikely, since the uninsured rate has been rising for decades<\/a>. If you want a complete, non-cherry-picked measure of the change in the uninsured rate, here it is:<\/p>\n

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