Things will get better, especially if more young people sign up, but the program has left an indelible impression of ineptitude and dishonesty. In short, it has become a vindication of everything conservatives say of liberal programs. Even liberals are wondering if the government can make such an extensive contraption work, and at a reasonable cost.

Of course, Hillary Clinton is not a conventional liberal — not nearly liberal enough for some people on the Democratic left. Among other things, her foreign policy — as much as it can be discerned — has been robust and muscular, not shying away from the use of force. That’s not terribly liberal, but it won’t matter in a general election. She will still be caricatured as the classic lefty, the architect of her own failed health-insurance program. That was a dreadnought of a bill (1,000 pages!) dubbed Hillarycare that was torpedoed by Republicans and even some Democrats and sank — but not quite without a trace. The GOP will refloat it for the next campaign, bringing those two frauds, Harry and Louise, back from retirement. By the time the malicious generalizers of the GOP are through, it will sound like one of Stalin’s five-year plans.