Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

It's difficult to believe five years have passed since the Affordable Health Care Act was signed into law by President Barrack Obama. Even with the passage of time, many of the details of “Obamacare” seem to be shrouded in mystery. As if a piece of legislation designed to solve the nation's healthcare problems not being entirely understandable to the public it is supposed to serve five years after it was passed is not enough of a problem, there are still several promises made by President Obama prior to the AHCA being passed that have turned out to simply not be true. For one, millions of Americans who were promised they could keep their existing health care plans in fact lost them. Limited provider networks made switching doctors a near necessity for many Americans, so promises of not having to change physicians also have rung untrue. And, while the AHCA was touted as a plan to make sure every American had health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that approximately 25 million people will still be uninsured in the year 2025. While Obamacare has provided subsidies for 7.7 million Americans, the cracks in its foundation continue to show, and without an honest assessment of its feasibility so far, no amount of time will remedy its ineffective aspects.