Health Care Reform Isn’t Working
More than a year after President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, the nation's health care delivery and coverage remain the disgrace of the industrialized world. Many who saw the reform bill as "the best we could get" are disappointed that support for it hasn't grown.
The new norm is underinsurance. About 40 percent of Americans go without needed care because they can't afford it. There are more than 50 million uninsured Americans. Even if the health care overhaul works as planned, 23 million Americans will still lack health insurance in 2019.
For unions, bargaining for health care is getting tougher as employers demand cuts and shift more costs to workers. Negotiations over better health coverage will become almost impossible when the excise tax on health benefits begins in 2018.