The end of Joe Biden’s presidency has served as an unseemly reminder of what presidential legacies may — or may not — entail. Presidents always strive for accomplishments that last after they leave. But posterity can remember you for good or — as is likely to be the case for Biden — for ill. Former president Barack Obama can attest to this as well. Obamacare (as he graciously allowed us to call it) continues to warp our political system well over a decade since its passage.

In Commentary magazine, Tevi Troy recounts the history of the law and assesses the damage it has inflicted on our political system. Troy, who once served as deputy secretary of health and human services, recalls the hauteur Obama displayed in advocating the bill; the shenanigans House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid employed to pass it; its improbable survival despite repeated legal and political challenges; and the logistical failures of its initial enactment.

But this is not mere history. Obamacare’s defects linger into the present. On a policy level, it failed to achieve many of its purported goals, such as reducing health-care spending and allowing those who liked their current health plans to keep them. Politically, it weakened and aggravated Congress, drove more policymaking to the executive, and even dragged the Supreme Court into an “Obamacare distortion” analogous to the abortion distortion that has corrupted longstanding legal doctrines and frameworks. The health care law continues to warp policy and politics in ways conservatives should not ignore or forget.

Former secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg bragged recently that his achievements in the post will become more appreciated over time. He cited Obamacare as an example, which has indeed become more politically entrenched. Now, Republicans are hesitant to do much more to curtail it than they already have, or even to talk about doing so. Last year’s Republican Party platform lacked any mention of Obamacare.

Donald Trump only became president again yesterday. But as an instant lame duck, Trump is likely already thinking about the legacy his second term might leave. There is an inextricable link between the progressive policies he rightly opposes and the expanded state Obamacare has facilitated. Conservatives, thus, ought to continue pushing for steps that would dial back, not leave in place or expand, the Obamacare distortions.