Just after midnight April 1, White House officials literally and figuratively popped open champagne as the open enrollment period ended with a reported 7.1 million Americans signing up for coverage through President Obama‘s health care law. That afternoon, Obama himself appeared in the Rose Garden to declare: “The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”

It’s important to focus on that word “affordable.” After all, when Obama was selling the health care plan, he vowed that it would reduce health care costs that were crushing individuals, businesses and the nation as a whole. But the opposite is the case.