• Rene Spring: I have always been very supportive of the Affordable Health Care Act. My opinion, thus, has not changed. Here in California, all seems to be work as planned with far fewer glitches than on federal level. I admit that the roll-out of the federal website was everything but well done. However, having worked in the software industry for all of my adult life, I’m confident that they can fix those glitches as needed so that everyone who wants to and needs to enroll will be able to do so.
• Swanee Edwards: My opinion of Obamacare is the same as it has always been: It is so much better than what we have now!! Look at hospital costs, they charge us all for the patients they MUST treat but who cannot pay. Anything worth doing is hard. Remember JFK: We choose to go to the moon; not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Give it time!
• Gabriel Madrigal: There is no change. I have great insurance, so I’m not too concerned about Obamacare. I can’t trust all these programs in order to feel secure, even if that program works great tomorrow, we will be dealing with a different issue soon.
• David Cohen: No change. I supported the program before and continue to do so. Let’s remember that first, a website is not a program; second, every president since Harry Truman has tried to deliver a national health care program and third, a solid, accurate answer to whether the Affordable Care Act is a good or bad thing is still a couple of years away.
• Jonathan Brusco: Worse. While there are a few aspects of the law that I thought were necessary, particularly the “pre-existing conditions” portion, I initially thought the law would negatively impact most Americans by raising health care costs, driving insurance companies out of our state, causing employers to cut hours, lay off workers, or even deny benefits. From what I hear and observe, all of these things are occurring to some degree and the law has gotten worse because the roll out was so disastrous. If the government can spend more than $500 million on the website and mess it up to such a large degree, how can we expect them to deliver the remainder of the law smoothly or even discuss a single payer system in the future, if indeed that is their goal.
• Matt Wendt: Worse. My opinion of the “Affordable” Care Act was already low before the website problems, cancellation of health insurance plans and increases to the cost of health insurance. While I think our health care system and laws were in need of common sense reforms to lower costs and better protect the poor, vulnerable and uninsured, I do not think a complete health care system overhaul like Obamacare was the change we needed or expected. Despite promises to the contrary, Obamacare has and will continue to hurt the middle, working class the most once it is finally and fully implemented. One needs to just look at the DMV to see how well government runs things.
• Heather Crossen: My opinion is unchanged. The problems with the rollout of the Affordable Health Care Act and the Act itself are two separate issues. We experienced comparable obstacles with other controversial social programs, such as Social Security in 1937 and Medicare in 1965. It is too soon to pass judgment, history will judge this in hindsight.
• Martha Artiles: My opinion of The Affordable Care Act has changed a bit for the worse only because of the issues with the website. I was disappointed that they did not tap into experts to address possible challenges with the large volumes of people it would draw and the complexities associated with all of the various choices … it seems they could have done some more homework before going live.
• Julian Mancias: Better. Actually, it is to early to tell one way or the other. The AHCA needs time to be implemented before it can be evaluated.
• Karen Anderson: No change. It is too soon. When people sign up for policies that feature preventative medicine, the proof is inwhether we still have astounding bills for the emergency rooms where so many used them as their only care, in many cases on the taxpayer tab. We should not forget that Republicans Richard Nixon and Mitt Romney also wanted our citizens healthy. I have read that Romneycare also had a shaky start.
• Kathy Sullivan: Better. We have made a move in the right direction, albeit one with more than a few bumps in the road. With no changes to our present medical cost system, we were faced with unsustainable spiraling costs. We needed reform and this was the first which showed any promise of dealing with the problem of the uninsured and people with pre-existing conditions.
