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Obamacare endured a grueling first decade of existence. Its launch was famously clunky. It was unpopular in its early years. It narrowly escaped repeal at both the Supreme Court and in Congress.
But the law passed in 2010 and more formally known as the Affordable Care Act has survived. Its more than survived, in fact. It now stands as a monument to a particular theory of progressive lawmaking: When the government enacts a new benefit that makes life easier for millions of people, the program tends to endure. That describes universal high school, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and now Obamacare.
President Biden yesterday signed a package of executive actions on health care, and many experts described them as steps to undo Donald Trumps attempted sabotage of the law. Which they are. But the modest scope of the actions is also a reminder of how little progress Trump made in undermining the law.
The number of Americans without health insurance did rise during the Trump presidency, because of his attempts to diminish the law. His administration did little to advertise Obamacare policies and weakened some of its provisions, like protections for people with certain medical conditions. But this increase in the number of uninsured reversed only a small portion of the decline caused by Obamacare.
Even after Trump, an additional 20 million or so Americans have health insurance today largely because of Obamacare. Others have better benefits like maternity care and addiction treatment or face lower costs.
Bidens orders still matter, because Trumps actions mattered.
Biden will try to strengthen protections for people with medical conditions. He will also create a new three-month sign-up period for Obamacare, starting next month, aimed partly at people who lost their jobs during the pandemic. The most recent sign-up period was in the fall.
Perhaps most significant, the Biden administration plans to promote the sign-up period heavily, through advertisements, email and other outreach, according to my colleague Margot Sanger-Katz, whos been covering Obamacare for most of its existence. Bidens people think the Trump people bungled the regular enrollment period, Margot told me.
By the end of Trumps presidency, the uninsured rate probably rose close to 10 percent, from 8.6 percent in the Obama administrations final year. Through executive action, Biden may be able to reduce it to about 8 percent over the next four years, according to my reporting.
The bigger question is whether Biden can persuade Congress to pass a new law that would go further than Obamacare did, by making coverage less expensive for more people. Otherwise, at least 25 million Americans are likely to remain uninsured.
There are still millions of poor, uninsured Americans in states that didnt expand Medicaid, Margot says, and millions of middle-class Americans who find Obamacare insurance unaffordable.
The big picture: The Affordable Care Act is a highly flawed, distressingly compromised, woefully incomplete attempt to establish a basic right that already exists in every other developed nation, Jonathan Cohn, another longtime health care journalist, writes in The Ten Year War, a forthcoming book. It is also the most ambitious and significant piece of domestic legislation to pass in half a century.
Modern Love: Its a good time to find love on multiplayer online role-playing games.
From Opinion: How can adults reduce stress and increase kinship? Try therapeutic crying.
And with these Op-Docs, you can bring Sundance to your living room.
Lives Lived: In a seven-decade-long career, Cicely Tyson broke ground for Black actors by refusing to take demeaning parts. She won three Emmys, an honorary Oscar, and at 88 she became the oldest person to win a Tony. She died at 96.
When Christopher Little received the first three chapters of a book about a boy wizard in 1995, he initially dismissed it. But his office manager insisted he give it a chance. Little became the literary agent who helped build an empire around Harry Potter. Little died at 79.
The first Academy Awards ceremony, on May 16, 1929, was 15 minutes long and resembled a corporate banquet. Over the years, the ceremony turned into the hourslong spectacle that youve probably watched at some point. Now some critics and Hollywood people are urging new changes.
Some could even take effect this year. The ceremony has been postponed until late April because of the pandemic.
A.O. Scott, a film critic at The Times, made the case for completely revamping the ceremony. Among his suggestions: expanding the awards categories to create separate prizes for genres like comedy, horror and action, which are typically not considered prestige cinema and are shut out from awards.
He also recommends treating Parasite, last years best-picture winner, not as an outlier but as a harbinger. It was the first film not in the English language to win that award, and it fulfilled the Oscar ideal a well-crafted movie with something to say that stands the test of time better than any mainstream Hollywood production in decades, he writes. So why not remove the best international feature category and make best picture an explicitly international category? Another idea: broadening the awards voting pool by expanding academy membership for more geographical, generational and cultural diversity.
Others have more immediate suggestions. During the pandemic, the actors nominated for awards should stay home and participate remotely, Peter Mehlman, a former Seinfeld writer, told The Times. Dont you think accepting an Oscar on a couch with dogs and kids might just humanize these people? he said.
Oscars buzz: Here are the films The Timess critics and writers would nominate for best picture, including The Forty-Year-Old Version, Sound of Metal and Minari.
Smoked mozzarella, garlicky bchamel and sauted mushrooms make this mushroom lasagna sing.
One of the revolutionary artistic mediums of the 20th century? Collage, as evidenced in the Spanish painter Juan Griss Still Life: The Table, made from newsprint, wallpaper and several other paper stocks. Explore it here.
Fake Accounts, the critic Lauren Oylers debut novel, follows a smart, irascible narrator who is too steeped in online life and social media. Read Parul Sehgals review.
Stream these 10 classical concerts in February.
The late-night hosts discussed Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman who endorsed QAnon.
Now Time to Play
The pangrams from yesterdays Spelling Bee were cardigan and carding. Todays puzzle is above or you can play online.
Heres todays Mini Crossword, and a clue: Disorderly brawl (five letters).
Take THE news quiz
Which top government jobs have still never been held by a woman? What did Anthony Fauci endure over the past year? And whats going on in the above photo? Take this weeks News Quiz, and see how well you do compared with other Times readers.
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Bidens Health Care Moves - The New York Times
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- Regarding the Starting of a new diet regimen - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Thoughts on Dropping Weight - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- What do doctors think about vitamin E supplements? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- What herbs or supplements are commonly used for depression? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Is there a safe way to lose a lot of weight? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Diets that promise you will lose weight - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Are Fish Toxins Linked to Diabetes? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Can Plastic Surgery Help Migraines? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Weight Loss Surgery Eradicates Diabetes Symptoms - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Found: A Gene That Controls Fat Cells - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Sugars and Starches, what's the difference? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Improving your health with a serving of nuts? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Is Your Diet Causing You To Be Depressed? - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Placebo Effect: Magnetic Bracelet Therapy - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Does serotonin promote sleep? - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Decreased energy levels - Overeating, Sleep, Nutrition - February 1st, 2010 [February 1st, 2010]
- When will the body begin to cannibalize muscle tissue? - February 7th, 2010 [February 7th, 2010]
- Foods that are high in antioxidants - February 7th, 2010 [February 7th, 2010]
- Editorial: Reduce health care costs by cutting administrative overhead - April 1st, 2012 [April 1st, 2012]
- Health Care Winners: Centene, Onyxx - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Dan Morain: Nurses union puts politics ahead of health - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- What's next if Obamacare falls? - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Global Managed Health Care Services Industry - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Immigration Fight Echoes Health-Care Case at High Court - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Medical Centers Lead Workplace Wellness Effort - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- The next health care overhaul? Look to employers - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Capital BlueCross Hosts Community Health Care Forums Focused on Managing Costs While Maintaining Quality - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- County committee to look at area health care - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- President Obama Calls on Students to Tell Congress: #DontDoubleMyRate - Video - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Sen. Coburn: Competition in Health Care to Allocate Resources - Video - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Jesse Kelly health care - Video - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- PHC Vision Statement (short version) - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- The Bioeconomy Blueprint Panel - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Providence Health Care's Vision Statement - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Department of Health and Human Services: Minority Health Blogger Townhall - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Health care worker accused of stealing identities of brain i - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Health Care Reform, Part 1 of 3 | KYVE Insiders Roundtable - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Health Care Reform: The ACA and Beyond - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Is Broccoli Like Health Insurance? - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Did Obama make a mistake on health care? - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- How Democrats Lie About Health Care - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Toobin on Health Care: This was a "judicial hissy-fit" - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- President Obama says health care law will stand - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Obama Defends Health Care Law From 'Judicial Activism' - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Obama Healthcare Individual Mandate - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- President Obama attacks Supreme Court on health care - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Raw Audio: High Court Dissects Health Care Act - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Health care on trial - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Final Day of Health Care Law Arguments Before Supreme Court - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Feds to put up $1.9B for Oregon health overhaul - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Scuttling health care act will freeze Medicare, White House warns - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- U.S. Health Care Spending High, But Quality Lags: Report - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Yes, the Health-Care Mandate Is About Liberty - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Health center gets $1M federal grant - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Health-care reform panel considers exchange options for Va. - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Hmong health care gap focus of Healthy House dinner - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Walsh-led health bill to be unveiled - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Ontario health system confusing for ailing seniors, study finds - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- 'Health Care Deserts' More Common in Black Neighborhoods - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- With federal money, Oregon kicks health care reform into high gear - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- Nurse practitioners tackling more 'doctor' tasks - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- Konza Prairie Health Center Receives $4.5 Million Grant - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- Alberta wages hurting Sask. health care - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- House releases plan to cut growth of Massachusetts health spending in half - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- Mass. House Will Unveil Bill Seeking To Rein In Health Costs - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- President Obama Welcomes the Kentucky Wildcats - Video - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- President Obama Speaks on College Affordability - Video - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- My First Job: Gene Sperling - Video - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- Health-care costs worry near-retirees - May 7th, 2012 [May 7th, 2012]
- Massachusetts Institutes Health-Care Price Controls. Is America Next? - May 7th, 2012 [May 7th, 2012]
- Massachusetts Moves Toward Health-Care Price Controls. Is America Next? - May 7th, 2012 [May 7th, 2012]
- GOP plan boosts Pentagon, cuts social programs - May 7th, 2012 [May 7th, 2012]