Six years ago, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. Since then, Americans have seen their premiums increase, a dozen nonprofit insurers have closed their doors and the number of people on the Medicaid rolls has expanded.
Americans nationwide have both praised and cursed the law since the federal and state-run exchanges launched in October 2013.
Many credit the president with giving them access to coverage—the result of Obamacare’s provision prohibiting insurers from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions. Others, meanwhile, have reported high premiums and deductibles, with the cost of their coverage increasing annually.
And for some, the cost of premiums has increased enough to leave them choosing between paying for insurance or paying the fine and going without.
Here are five graphs charting Obamacare’s six-year history.
1) The Cost of HealthCare.gov
Obamacare’s implementation in October 2013 came with the launch of HealthCare.gov, the federal health insurance exchange.
Just six people successfully signed up for health insurance on HealthCare.gov on Oct. 1, 2013, because of massive glitches and failures with the site. In the months that followed the disastrous launch, the Republican-led House of Representatives held numerous hearings to determine why the Obama administration decided to launch the website.
The Department of Health and Human Services fired CGI Federal, which was originally tasked with building HealthCare.gov, after the website’s launch and signed a new contract with Accenture to rebuild the exchange.
