MEGAN MCARDLE: A ‘Tweak’ to Fix Obamacare? That’s a Red Flag.

Here’s a little diversion to pass the time as you endure Washington’s policy debates. Listen for phrases like “All we have to do” or “We need just a small tweak” or “There’s a really simple fix.” Then watch to see what happens. Whatever that person is proposing will prove to be really, really costly — politically or fiscally or both. . . .

So beware when liberals today start saying that maybe Obamacare has a few problems, but all we need to do is …

They’re saying it a lot. . . .

These things are not easy, simple fixes. Do you know how we know this? They weren’t done when the law was passed.

Why? Because Democrats couldn’t assemble a political coalition to do this. Mind you, at the time they had 60 votes in the Senate, and control of the House, and the presidency — a level of historical dominance they hadn’t managed in decades. Either these simple fixes would have pushed the price tag of the bill too high, making it difficult to find even more taxes or program cuts to pay for it, or they would have damaged the popularity of a bill that was already really unpopular.

And, as we can see, with good reason.