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Obamacare Exchanges Were in Big Trouble Before Trump

"[A]ny of these theories of the decline suggests that Obamacare was already incredibly fragile. The program was either: [1] primed to decline anyway, [2] primed to decline as soon as a Republican took the White House and voters began worrying about the future of the program, or [3] so vulnerable that a small amount of advertising could make the difference between enrollment growth and a significant decline. All three of these theories suggest that this program badly needs to be replaced with something that doesn't begin to topple as soon as anyone looks at it funny."

Obamacare's Never-Ending Fix-a-Thon

"[One reporter] asked whether it was now possible that the net coverage numbers would be lower in January 2014 than they were this year. HHS hemmed and hawed. [The reporter] pressed them, asking whether they were confident that coverage was going to increase. [CMS spokeswoman] Julie Bataille finally answered that they were confident millions more people were going to have access to affordable coverage -- not have it, mind you, just have access to it, in the same way that I have access to a sousaphone and a week on the beach in Maui.... Day by day, the administration is putting more of the onus on insurers to make this market work -- voluntarily, out of the goodness of their hearts or at least out of mutual self-interest."

Vermont's Lessons for Fans of Single-Payer Health Care

"[S]ingle-payer systems may well allow you to control the rate of health-care cost growth, thanks to government price controls on supplies and services, along with rationing or denial of expensive treatments. What it doesn't allow you to do is easily cut the rate of health-care spending. None of the single-payer systems that are frequently held up as models for the U.S. have ever managed sustained cuts in health-care spending. All they've done is prevent it from growing so fast."

We Are All Going to Pension Hell

"The rage of public sector unions is understandable. And this debate is going to be bitter, because unlike with regular firms, there's no clear point at which you can say, 'Yes, that's it, we all agree they're insolvent.' While a private firm cannot (thank God) simply take more money from their customers, in theory, governments can generally raise taxes and cut other spending to pay pensions.... [H]ow much should cities have to cut, once the tax base is exhausted? Senior centers? Parades? Maintenance at city parks? We'd better start asking those questions, because pretty soon, we're going to need to answer them."

Why Not Try 'Medicare for All'? ... Glad You Asked

"Because costs will spiral out of control. Because hospital care will suffer. Because the stakes are too high for a mass experiment."