The New York Times says that Obamacare is “ailing” in a story that ends thus:
“We are not in a death spiral,” Dr. Rowe said. “If this were a patient, I would say that he’s not in intensive care, but he’s still in the hospital and requires careful monitoring.”
But that does not mean the act will heal on its own, said Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University.
“Even the most ardent proponents of the law would say that it has structural and technical problems that need to be addressed,” she said. “The subsidies were not generous enough. The penalties for not getting insurance were not stiff enough. And we don’t have enough young healthy people in the exchanges.”
So all you have to do is make the subsidies bigger than the ones enacted by the most liberal Congress we have ever had. Next, strengthen the least popular element of the law. Hope that these steps will be enough to get people to do something they don’t seem to want to do. And then all will be well with our patient.