Obamacare's next goal: Transform medicine

Photo: AP

(Bloomberg View) — When President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, six years ago this week, he addressed the rancor the health-care debate had inspired with a call to resist cynicism. “We are not a nation that does what’s easy,” he said. “We are a nation that does what is hard. What is necessary. What is right. Here, in this country, we shape our own destiny.”

It hasn’t been easy, and there have been challenges along the way, but we have made significant progress. Today, 20 million people have gained coverage because of the health law. Health-care prices have risen at the slowest rate in five decades. And with new protections and benefits, everyone’s insurance is higher quality, no matter where it’s purchased.