Shutdown Din Obscures Health Exchange Flaws

Republicans want to repeal or delay it or make major changes, but Mr. Obama refuses to negotiate over the future of the law, which converts coverage from a privilege to a right, starting in January. E. Neil Trautwein, a vice president of the National Retail Federation, said the standoff had "Hardened the positions" of House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House, reducing the chances for changes that could make the law more workable for employers. Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, both Republicans, have led the campaign to strip money from the Affordable Care Act, although many Republican senators have expressed deep reservations about the tactic, saying it is unlikely to succeed. "The push to defund the health care law was ludicrous from the beginning. It had no chance of success. But it became a cause célèbre for the hard right and obscured all the work we had done to investigate and highlight problems with the law."

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/news/affordable-care-act/2013/10/04/shutdown-din-obscures-health-exchange-flaws/?partner=rss&emc=rss