There are some rumors that the administration wants to distance itself from the slang “Obamacare,” a term the president embraced in the 2012 campaign but now finds hurtful to his polls and his colleagues in the Congress. But what would be alternatives? We know the official name, “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” has now become Orwellian and simply cannot be used. Millions of patients are not being protected, but losing their coverage — with more to come. So far those receiving notices of steep premium hikes outnumber those who are handed the promised “$2,500” year in savings. At least, I have not heard of too many Americans who received notices apprising them of “affordable” expanded coverage at a $208 savings per month in their premiums.


If for the foreseeable future Obamacare is not protecting patients or making policies more affordable, and we are not supposed to call it “Obamacare” until it fulfills its promises, what is left?

A formal rebrand like “The Fundamental Transformation of Health Care Act” is too long. I think we might hear floated something more informal like, “The Emanuel Brothers Bill,” or “Hope and Change Care,” or the “Pelosi-Reid Change of Policy Act.”