Two Weeks Into Obamacare Rollout: Ho Hum

The Symbol of Success

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Two weeks into health rollout: Few problems, few patients. "Two weeks into the full rollout of the Affordable Care Act, hospitals and doctors say they are coping with the trickle of new patients relatively smoothly, but one of the biggest issues is making sure enrollees get insurance cards..."We are definitely seeing an impact, but it's a small number compared to the overall population," said Mark Newton, the chief executive of Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago. Mr. Newton said his hospital saw at least 25 newly insured patients the first week in January and performed two surgeries on people who were waiting for new coverage to kick in on Jan. 1. "There seems to be this fear that a huge group of patients will suddenly be part of the health-care system. The reality is, they're already part of the system. They're just accessing care in the wrong place, at the wrong time," said Reid Blackwelder, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, who practices in Kingsport, Tenn. "We want to see more patients coming into primary-care offices--we need to get them out of the ER--but that will take some time.""Jennifer Corbett Dooren and Melinda Beck in The Wall Street Journal.