the economics and politics of the ACA (and an update on its impact)

Since the ACA (at best) deals with symptoms rather than 70 years of underlying govt policy causes, it could not do more than band-aid and distort the market for health care and health insurance in other ways. Here's a report on the latest, six years into it...

What would one expect from such an approach? Exactly what we've seen (and will continue to see)-- as we often see with govt policy:

In terms of the economics:

-some short-run, obvious policy benefits

-some short-run, relatively obvious policy costs

-longer-run, subtle policy costs

In terms of the politics:

-those who avidly defend it: partisans and fundies; cronies who directly benefit; and those who (reasonably) don't do much in terms of policy analysis

-those who avidly oppose it, quite a few as partisans and fundies