Top five healthcare stories of the year

It was a frenetic year in the healthcare world as ObamaCare took root and Ebola fears swept the country.

While the healthcare law survived a rough first year, the Obama administration was faced with new uncertainty as the Supreme Court decided to consider the validity of the insurance subsides it provides.

And in an added headache for ObamaCare defenders, consultant Jonathan Gruber became a household name thanks to viral clips of him insulting voters when discussing passage of the law.

Here are the five healthcare stories that mattered this year.

1) HealthCare.gov recovers

Count this as the administration’s biggest win for 2014.

Late last year, it was unclear whether HealthCare.gov could perform basic functions during a rush of traffic to the exchanges.

While a “tech surge” aimed at fixing the site succeeded, few experts believed the White House would beat its enrollment target of 7 million after a disastrous rollout.

Federal officials proved critics wrong in April after President Obama announced that 8 million people signed up for private plans, widely outpacing expectations.

The administration then spent the summer overhauling the consumer interface at HealthCare.gov.

Though the site’s front-end appears to be working well, HHS has not escaped criticism.

The department came under fire late last month after revealing that its enrollment figures were inflated by about 400,000 due to miscounted dental plans.

“The mistake we made is unacceptable,” Burwell tweeted Nov. 20.

2) Ebola fears grip the nation

West Africa is facing an unprecedented epidemic of Ebola, with nearly 7,000 dead and about 18,500 sickened as of mid-December.

News of the virus dominated American news coverage for most of the fall, after a Liberian man carried Ebola to Dallas and infected two nurses prior to his death.

The case raised questions about the U.S. health system’s preparedness to fight infectious diseases and the role of federal health officials in preparing hospitals and healthcare workers.

Intense public interest put pressure on the administration to bolster its response, resulting in travel restrictions and special monitoring of passengers from West Africa.

3) Supreme Court surprises

The Supreme Court remained a key arbiter of ObamaCare’s future with a decision curbing the law’s birth control mandate and the choice to hear a challenge to billions of dollars in tax subsidies.

The justices ruled 5-4 in late June that for-profit employers with religious objections can opt out of covering birth control for female workers.

The case, Hobby Lobby v. Burwell, dealt a blow to the administration and raised the potential for a similar challenge to the mandate by non-profit organizations.

Adding to the White House’s anxiety, the court agreed in early November to examine the validity of tax subsidies issued through ObamaCare’s federally run exchanges.

The upcoming ruling in that case, King v. Burwell, could cause massive chaos for the law and millions of enrollees receiving financial assistance through HealthCare.gov.

4) Grubergate blindsides administration

Jonathan Gruber has become infamous for his remark that the “stupidity of the American voter” aided ObamaCare’s passage.

Comments by the once-obscure healthcare economist pulled ObamaCare back to the center of the debate on Capitol Hill after several quiet months. 

Gruber is now some Republicans’ enemy no. 1 on the healthcare law as the GOP prepares to take control of the upper chamber in January.

A December hearing in which he repeatedly apologized for his comments failed to close the book on the controversy after he declined to provide details about his government contracts.

That refusal led outgoing House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to issue a subpoena to Gruber for financial documents and communications.

“As one of the architects of ObamaCare, Jonathan Gruber is in a unique position to shed light on the ‘lack of transparency’ surrounding the passage of the president’s healthcare law,” Issa said in a statement Dec. 12.

5) Burwell takes the reins

Burwell stepped in as HHS secretary this summer at a crucial time for the department.

Bruised from the botched rollout of the exchanges and the constant political fights with Capitol Hill, federal health officials hoped that new leadership would turn the page on old controversies.

So far, Burwell has maintained her reputation as an effective manager and avoided major stumbles.

The successful relaunch of HealthCare.gov — and the likelihood that enrollment will outpace projections — put points in her column with the White House.

Burwell also benefits from positive ties to Republican senators, though whether her relationships can withstand a GOP assault on the healthcare law next year remains to be seen.