Ten years in, Obamacare has wins and losses

MAURINE STUART CREDITS THE AFFORDABLE Care Act (ACA) for saving her family. In 2014, Stuart was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome, a rare disease that causes heart, liver and lymphatic problems. As a result, she was unable to continue working full time—which meant losing her employer-sponsored health insurance. But thankfully, she says, that same year, her home state of West Virginia opted in to the 2010 Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid-coverage expansion, and she qualified.

Over the next few years, as bad news kept rolling in, ACA protections continued to keep Stuart’s family afloat. When Stuart was diagnosed with breast cancer, when her sister was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and when her daughter Peyton began having seizures, the ACA consistently offered avenues of affordable