NMMR: Evan McMullin for POTUS

smerka

There were waaay too many variables to accurately predict what was going to happen. The thought was that once all the healthy people who didn't have insurance started buying it, the money would pay for the sick people. The Medicaid expansion was another variable. And people would stop just showing up at the ER w/o insurance for something that could have been handled better by a primary care physician before it got so bad. And I think no one could accurately predict how many people would start taking advantage of the 'free' mammograms, wellness screens, and other things that have to be covered.  I really wish Obama hadn't said the bit about keeping your doctor because there was no way he could guarantee that. 

smerka

I totally agree with you on buying insurance across state lines and lowering medical costs. My dad always quotes the figure that 2/3 of your lifetime healthcare costs are spent in the last 6 months of life. Don't know if that's true, but I wish everyone did a health care directive so you wouldn't have people keeping Grandma alive in the hopes that she will get better. 

bmo88

@AprilZ81: 

The Affordable Care Act is far from perfect, but health care reform had to happen. It was spiraling out of control and was out of reach for many, many people. As other PPs have said, it was impossible to predict what the variables would be that would set pricing. I believe it will balance out of over time though. Obama should not have promised as much on the front end, but that is also the reality of politics, if you do not entice people with an overly positive picture, they won't accept or pass the legislation. But, it's a much better national option than the previous system.

Education Reform: I work in education (running two schools) and I am very familiar with the changes and the previous system. Many people who are outside of education do not know or understand it. No Child Left Behind (put in place by Bush) caused a lot of issues and snowballed a lot of things that happened during Obama's administration. So Common Core was not Obama's idea, it was actually developed and initiated by Bush. Did Obama's administration implement it? Yes, but mostly because it had already been enacted. It started in 2009 (after Obama took office), but was decided before his time. The idea is actually great, how it was managed/handled was not idea, but also, any nationalized program takes time and tweaking. The problem is the established goals/accountability (sent in initial legislation) were unreasonable. Obama actually passed new legislation called "Every Student Succeeds Act" which eliminates many of the ridiculous ties to grant funding associated with standardized testing. So you can thank him for starting the deregulation of the overall "accountability" system.

Obama Apologizing: I don't consider the link or references to be particularly relevant given they were made in 2009 during the first year of his presidency. He was apologizing for the mess that was created prior and he inherited. The US was not making some good decisions. I do not think apologizing is a sign of weak leadership either. As an Executive Director myself, I actually respect people more when they have the maturity to accept fault and apologize when necessary.

Race Baiting: I do not believe that Obama race baits. That's an overreach. He makes national statements, every president makes statements after national tragedies or incidences. Do cops need to be more careful? Uh, yes. Every cop? No, but there are a great deal of issues with policing in american neighborhoods. The militarization of the police force in this country is very real, if you research it, you will find out. Pointing out facts about race and police issues is not race baiting. If you or others hate him for that, then it's unfortunate, but this country needs to wake up to the reality that racism still very much exists in America. 
FWIW, Trump has awakened the racism beast very effectively with hate speech and targeted attacks toward certain minority groups.