Part of a series about the worst predictions of the year.

Every year at this time, reporters and analysts and prognosticators engage in one of their favorite pastimes: predicting what will happen in the year to come. Sometimes those predictions can be downright prescient, but more often they are wildly—sometimes laughably—inaccurate.

As 2014 comes to a close, The New Republic looks back at some of the worst predictions made at the beginning of the year, starting with three very bad predictions from policymakers.

Obamacare will lead to massive spikes in health-care premiums.

In January, the health insurance marketplaces created with the passage of the Affordable Care Act opened for the first time. Slow participation rates in the first few months of open enrollment—thanks in large part to a disastrous rollout of Healthcare.gov—didn’t look promising for the Obama administration, and Republicans were quick to jump on lower-than-expected enrollment figures as evidence that the whole program would never be financially solvent and lead to premium hikes.

"I fear we could see a fundamental breakdown of the insurance market with coverage gaps and premiums skyrocketing—pricing millions of Americans out of health care," said Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI).

By spring, enrollment was back on track. The administration announced on March 31 that it had met its goal of 7 million enrollees right on schedule, and HHS continued to revise its figures upward as the year went on. Even correcting for a miscalculation that folded dental insurance plans into the overall enrollment figures uncovered earlier this fall wasn’t enough to derail a successful first year of the insurance marketplace. The rate of uninsured fell by approximately 22 percent, while insurance premiums remained flat.