Another week has passed, which apparently means that it's time for another terrifying article from Sharon LaFraniere, Ian Austen and Robert Pear on the federal health-care exchanges.
Time to panic? No. But it's time to prepare to panic. It sounds like the earliest anyone is projecting fixes is sometime in the middle of November. That's the time when it absolutely has to work -- and if it doesn't, we should panic. Maybe not "Get in the shelter, Homer!" panic, but I'd definitely think about rebalancing the 401(k) and maybe voting in some politicians who will treat this with the gravity it deserves, rather than giving Rose Garden speeches saying that everything's basically A-OK if you don't look at the parts that don't work! Because make no mistake: If this piece doesn't work, then most of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act doesn't work.
