19 Feb 2014 Alter: Obama ‘Fumbled’ Debut Of ObamaCare

Liberal Jonathan Alter examines the lead up to the roll out of HealthCare.gov, and concludes that:

…whatever happens to the ACA, the many mistakes made with the rollout have tarnished the president’s reputation for competence. Obama will always have to live with the fact that he “fumbled” — his word — the debut of his signature program and his best bet to define his legacy.

Alter’s article if Foreign Affairs is the best run-down yet of how HealthCare.gov went wrong and how much of the disaster can be traced back to President Obama’s incompetence.  It is well worth the read, even though you have to wade through liberal tripe like this:

Thanks to the ACA, which took effect on January 1 of this year, the U.S. government has finally joined most other industrialized nations in offering its citizens health security. The reform, by many estimates, will save tens of thousands of lives as Americans reap the benefits of such provisions as greatly expanded preventive medicine and a prohibition on insurance companies’ discriminating against those with preexisting conditions. The era when millions of Americans were bankrupted by medical expenses will end. If the law works as planned, it will also contain health-care costs, reducing the U.S. budget deficit. And by freeing employees from the perpetual fear of losing their health insurance, the ACA should, in theory at least, make it easier for them to leave their jobs to start new businesses, boosting domestic and global growth.

No, millions of Americans did not go bankrupt because of medical bills.  And that supposed “health security” of other nations often means long wait times for surgery. Anyway, if you can get passed paragraphs like that, the rest of the article makes for fascinating reading.

One last thing.  Alter appears to think that the government can actually manage the health care system.  I’d encourage him to put “The Use of Knowledge in Society” and “The Fatal Conceit” on his reading list, but doubt it would do much good.