USA gears up for next round of enrolment under the ACA

24 October  2015

WORLD REPORT    As enrolment begins for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance, officials cut estimates of how many Americans will get coverage.  Susan Jaffe, The Lancet’s Washington correspondent,  reports.

The past 2 years of President Barack Obama’s landmark health insurance programme haven’t been easy—surviving two Supreme Court challenges, nearly done-in by embarrassing technical glitches, and more than 50 congressional votes attempting to dismantle it. But its troubles are not yet over: enrolling new beneficiaries “is going to be tougher than last year”, warned Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell.

Burwell and other Obama Administration officials are damping down enrolment expectations just days before the 3-month sign-up period for 2016 coverage begins on Nov 1.  [Continued here ]