Alan: Once Americans awaken to Obamacare's success, rugged individualism, in the guise of winner-take-all Cowboy Capitalism, will breathe its last and America will embark an irreversible course of compassion.
In effect, the rubrics of civilization have finally prevailed and Barack Obama gets credit.
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"Where's The Train Wreck?"
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Way more than 8 million people have signed up. Sarah Kliff in Vox.
Obamacare is not an iPhone; it's more like an Android. Ezra Klein in Vox.
The debate is shifting to the law's cost and quality impacts. "With more than 8 million Americans now dependent on medical coverage through Obamacare, the law may finally be cemented into the foundation of U.S. society. The response easily beat a Congressional Budget Office prediction of 6 million, and the agency says it expects at least 7 million more people will enroll in private plans after the sign-up period for 2015 opens in November. Between now and then, politicians will try to make the law's effects on consumers a key issue in the November congressional elections." Alex Wayne in Bloomberg.
The recent surge in health spending is creating some unease. "It's back. For years, because of structural changes in the health care delivery system and the deep economic downturn, the health care 'cost curve' -- as economists and policy makers call it -- had bent. Health spending was growing no faster than spending on other goods or services, an anomaly in 50 years of government accounts. But perhaps no longer. A surge of insurance enrollment related to rising employment and President Obama's health care law has likely meant a surge of spending on health care, leaving policy experts wondering whether the government and private businesses can control spending as the economy gets stronger and millions more Americans gain coverage." Annie Lowrey in The New York Times.
Long read: What the rising health spending means for the economy and Obamacare. Jonathan Cohn in The New Republic.
Don't expect drastic Obamacare insurance hikes as some Obamacare critics had predicted. "The next great frontier of conservative hyperbole concerns premiums for 2015, with critics warning that costs will double or even triple next year. As of this week, we have good evidence to the contrary. Health insurance premium rates are expected go up just 7 percent -- a rate of increase much lower than what critics were predicting. And the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is predicting that premium hikes will be relatively modest." Lucia Graves in National Journal.
Other health care reads:
Democrats confront vexing politics on Obamacare. Jonathan Martin in The New York Times.
GOP responds to 'War on Women' label by...attacking Obamacare. Beth Reinhard and Kristina Peterson in The Wall Street Journal.
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