Health-care reform: Main issue after 2 years is, will it survive?

Two years to the day after President Obama signed it into law, the Affordable Care Act remains very much a work in progress.

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The White House says its health-care reforms have improved the lives of millions, though the legislation’s most important provisions have yet to take effect. Detractors – a category that includes every GOP presidential hopeful – scorn Mr. Obama’s health reforms as Treasury-busting infringements on American freedoms.

Yet the most important question dealing with the ACA may be not how it’s doing, but whether it will survive. Next week the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the constitutionality of the law’s lynchpin requirement that individuals carry health insurance.

“What’s at stake basically is whether or not the signature domestic achievement of the Obama administration is sustained,” says Russell Wheeler, a visiting fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, in an online interview on the Affordable Care Act’s future.

Obama himself did not make a big live appearance promoting the ACA’s birthday. That could be in deference to the upcoming Supreme Court arguments, or it could be a reflection of the fact that polls show US voters remain split on whether the law’s passage was a good thing.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday it is “absurd” to think that Obama is distancing himself from the health law. Carney noted that Obama’s campaign has produced a video featuring Americans who have benefited from the ACA.

And the White House itself on Friday issued a report highlighting what it called the progress produced by the legislation.

Among its assertions: 2.5 million more young adults have health insurance, thanks to an ACA requirement that they continue to be covered on parental policies; 5.1 million Medicare recipients have saved $3.1 billion on prescription drugs because of increased ACA coverage limits; and insurance firms can no longer drop policy-holders who get sick if they made a mistake on their applications.

“And thanks to health reform, all Americans will have the security to know that you don’t have to worry about losing coverage if you’re laid off or change jobs, and insurance companies are required to cover your preventive care like mammograms and other cancer screenings,” concludes the White House report.

Meanwhile, Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney blasted the Affordable Care Act on Friday.

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