Our healthcare system has a lot of problems.
We spend much more than anyone else—almost twice as much the average rich country—but we don't get more than anyone else. We get less. See, our health outcomes are about the same, but we don't cover everybody like other rich countries do. It's a disaster, really. (Or as Josh Barro puts it slightly less diplomatically, it "sucks").
But, as Ezra Klein points out, there's a paradox when it comes to healthcare reform. Most people think the system needs to be changed, but they don't want their insurance changed. That's why there's been so much backlash now that people are finding out that, despite what Obama promised, some of them will lose their current coverage under Obamacare. And why Bill Clinton said he thinks we should change the law to let people who won't get subsidies keep their coverage.
There's already a Democratic bill that would do just that. Senator Mary Landrieu's "Keeping the Affordable Care Act Promise Act" would require insurance companies to keep offering people the plans they have right now as long as they keep paying their premiums. It's the kind of poll-tested idea that's good politics, and horrible, horrible policy. That's because it's a good thing if some people lose their plans. That's how reform should work, the White House's false promises and hopelessly bungled roll-out, notwithstanding.