The Atlantic

Is Obamacare Just Bad Branding?

Maybe, but there’s not much Obama could have done about it.
Source: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

The Senate began the process of dismantling Obamacare early Thursday morning, passing a budget blueprint that sets the stage for a formal repeal vote, potentially within a few weeks.

The step is, for now, procedural, but it signals Republican lawmakers are following through on their longstanding promises to axe the law.

In his press conference this week, President-elect Donald Trump assured Americans once again that Obamacare will be repealed and replaced, “essentially, simultaneously.”

The pesky details are still TBD, as he explained: “It will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or the same week, but probably, the same day, could be the same hour.”

But the implication is clear: “So we’re

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic3 min read
They Rode the Rails, Made Friends, and Fell Out of Love With America
The open road is the great American literary device. Whether the example is Jack Kerouac or Tracy Chapman, the national canon is full of travel tales that observe America’s idiosyncrasies and inequalities, its dark corners and lost wanderers, but ult
The Atlantic6 min read
There’s Just One Problem With Gun Buybacks
One warm North Carolina fall morning, a platoon of Durham County Sheriff’s Office employees was enjoying an exhibit of historical firearms in a church parking lot. They were on duty, tasked with running a gun buyback, an event at which citizens can t
The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Return of the John Birch Society
Michael Smart chuckled as he thought back to their banishment. Truthfully he couldn’t say for sure what the problem had been, why it was that in 2012, the John Birch Society—the far-right organization historically steeped in conspiracism and oppositi

Related Books & Audiobooks