Obamacare is about to fail. Let's be clear what that statement means. First, the premiums paid for insurance by large numbers of Americans are about to soar when the full Obamacare requirements kick in next January. Second, many poor Americans who will get subsidies in order to purchase health insurance will still be without meaningful coverage because of the large deductibles that will have to be met before the insurance pays for treatment. Third, millions of folks are about to lose coverage from their employers who are giving up providing insurance in order to avoid the huge new costs imposed by Obamacare. Fourth, the overall cost of healthcare in the American economy is continuing to grow, and Obamacare has done nothing to stop that growth.
Obamacare was sold by president Obama as resulting in a reduction of $2500 per family in health insurance premiums. We have already learned that the premiums for individuals in California will rise by over 100% in 2014. Now we learn that in Ohio, the average premium will rise 88%. To put it mildly, these are not premium reductions. Interestingly, even super supporters of the law no longer talk about reductions in premiums. Instead they claim that total spending on health care is going to be less than it otherwise would have been. For example, Ezra Klein at the Washington Post has an article today in which he claims that studies project spending on health care in 2018 will be less than the amount that was projected for that date in earlier studies done in 2008. Of course, Klein ignores the reductions in health care spending that resulted from the recession and lackluster recovery which has made it much harder for many people to pay their portions of medical expenses. It is that economic malaise, and not Obamacare, which has reduced spending on healthcare.
Obamacare was also sold to the country on the claim that millions would have insurance who do not have it now. What good is having insurance, though, if you are too poor to pay the deductible? There will still be no improvement in healthcare.
The problem that the country is facing is that Obamacare was passed without anyone thinking the whole thing through. None of the problems that we are facing were unforeseen. Sadly, though, instead of trying to improve the bill to one that would work, the Democrats were too interested in pushing this failure through Congress in order to get a political victory. Unfortunately, the Democrats' political "victory" is a loss for the country. My prediction is that come November of 2014, it will be a loss for the Democrats as well.
Obamacare was sold by president Obama as resulting in a reduction of $2500 per family in health insurance premiums. We have already learned that the premiums for individuals in California will rise by over 100% in 2014. Now we learn that in Ohio, the average premium will rise 88%. To put it mildly, these are not premium reductions. Interestingly, even super supporters of the law no longer talk about reductions in premiums. Instead they claim that total spending on health care is going to be less than it otherwise would have been. For example, Ezra Klein at the Washington Post has an article today in which he claims that studies project spending on health care in 2018 will be less than the amount that was projected for that date in earlier studies done in 2008. Of course, Klein ignores the reductions in health care spending that resulted from the recession and lackluster recovery which has made it much harder for many people to pay their portions of medical expenses. It is that economic malaise, and not Obamacare, which has reduced spending on healthcare.
Obamacare was also sold to the country on the claim that millions would have insurance who do not have it now. What good is having insurance, though, if you are too poor to pay the deductible? There will still be no improvement in healthcare.
The problem that the country is facing is that Obamacare was passed without anyone thinking the whole thing through. None of the problems that we are facing were unforeseen. Sadly, though, instead of trying to improve the bill to one that would work, the Democrats were too interested in pushing this failure through Congress in order to get a political victory. Unfortunately, the Democrats' political "victory" is a loss for the country. My prediction is that come November of 2014, it will be a loss for the Democrats as well.
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