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>>I regret to say that I agree about Obama's failure to deliver on most of his promises.
>>In fact, Nancy Pelosi actually got the Health Care bill passed, not Obama.
>>His biggest failure was in not delivering on the phrase that actually got him the nomination...
>>"There are no blue states or red states .. only the United States."
>>If anything, the country is more divided than it was in 2008, so he gets F minus on that score.
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>>As Krugman points out, is that no one has any serious ideas policy ideas about these disenfranchised Middle Americans. That's at the root of the anger. No one really cares about them.
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>Are you willing to acknowledge that the implementation of ACA has generally made life tougher for middle and lower-middle income Americans?

That depends on what middle and lower-middle income Americans you mean.

In the states that opted in, the Feds have subsidized Medicaid substantially.
That has extended Medicaid to tens of thousands of lower income people who had no coverage at, at little or no cost.
That's a really big deal for those people.

I've heard rumbles from people who were previously insured and have had premium increases. Some of them can ill afford them so to them it has made life more difficult, at least in the short run.

It amazes me that people are surprised that premiums have increased in the short run.
-Pre-existing conditions had been previously excluded to keep premiums down. Allowing them can only have one possible effect.
-The "doughnut hole" in prescription drug coverage was eliminated. That's a benefit increase that has to raise premiums.
-There were no minimum standards of coverage before. Again, setting minimum standards can have only one possible effect on premiums of policies that were below the minimum.

In the long run, hospital costs should go down because fewer uninsured people are being cared for and that should translate to lower premiums for everyone.

I've seen several studies of late showing that the curve of health care cost increases has decelerated.
No one can say whether that ACA is a factor there, but if that trend continues, premiums will inevitably fall- to the benefit of everyone but the insurers and providers who have been gouging people for decades.