The 12-month countdown

摘要

January 1st 2014 seemed far away when Barack Obama signed his health-care law back in 2010. That is the day when the law's main parts will take effect, including the mandate to buy insurance and the expansion of Medicaid, the health programme for the poor. But recent years have been rather hectic. Republicans hoped to gut "Obamacare" first in court, then by electing a Republican president. But Mr Obama is still in the White House. Obamacare, as even the president now calls it, is still law. And January 1st 2014 is still the date when its main parts must go into effect. The next 12 months will be busy.