Thinking About Health: ACA has had positive effects, but many problems remain

The Affordable Care Act, nicknamed “Obamacare,” turns 10 years old this month, and what a tumultuous run the health care law has had. The law’s rocky existence hasn’t smoothed out yet, and it faces additional scrutiny by the U.S. Supreme Court in the fall, the result of more legal challenges to its future.

Nevertheless, the occasion of the law’s 10th birthday is a good time to take stock of what it has done and what it has not. How have Americans been helped? What serious challenges facing the health care system remain?

No matter what happens to the law on its latest trip to the Supreme Court,...