Are We Smart Enough for Obamacare?

Leaving aside the perceptions of Obamacare that prove so vexing to conservatives, there’s a huge problem with the current conception of the Affordable Care Act: It requires Americans to determine something complex on their own.

This is not a criticism of the Health Insurance Marketplace websites like healthcare.gov, which look like they’re using a language remarkably like everyday English and navigation that’s reasonably intuitive. No, this is a criticism of average people, both educated and uneducated, who must engage a process that involves reading, comprehension, and decision-making—and applied to a process developed by bureaucrats and described as "an ugly patch on an ugly system." It’s no wonder the roll-out involved hiring “navigators” who can offer in-person help for people drowning in data.

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