The Washington Post has a story that proclaims that the Obama administration has finally put forward its own definition of "success" for healthcare.gov, the Obamacare exchange website. In an amazing statement, an unnamed (of course) government official told the WaPo that the "administration will consider the new federal insurance marketplace a success if 80 percent of users can buy health care plans online." Think for a moment what that means.
We have been told for over a year now that the administration hoped to sign up 7 million folks to insurance coverage for the first time on the exchange. On top of that, there have been just over 5 million folks so far whose individual plans have been cancelled; most of this group will have to buy coverage on the exchange despite president Obama's recent "fix" that supposedly will allow some of them to keep their plans. So let's say that only 3 million people out of the 5 million will end up buying insurance on the exchange. That makes a total of 10 million people who are being sent to the exchange.
In typical big government, Washington fashion, we are now being told that if only two million of these people are unable to buy insurance on the exchange, it will be a big success. That is two million families without insurance. That is probably 4 million Americans who could not buy insurance on the exchange. Only in Washington could 4 million uninsured people be touted as a success.
This sounds terrible, to be sure, but it's actually worse. If you read the WaPo story closely, you find out that the 80% figure for "success" is actually 80% of the folks who make it onto the website. All those people who do not or cannot go to the website are not counted. Now I know that most Americans have access to the internet, but not everyone does. There are tens of millions of people without that access. Some people do not have computers or other devices that can connect. Others do not live close to a library or other place where they could get on line. Still others live close enough to such a place, but have no idea how to use the internet were they to go there. Sure, it is a small minority, but it is, nevertheless, millions of people!
Before Obamacare, if one of these folks wanted to buy health insurance, he or she could call a broker or an individual company and do so. That is still possible, although the choices are now severly limited and the prices are much higher. And that's the point. The prices are higher, and for many people they are clearly out of reach. These people need the government subsidies in order to afford coverage under the higher priced Obamacare policies. But the only place to get those subsidies is on the exchanges. So, for the millions of folks who cannot get on the exchanges, the subsidies go out the window.
It is an outrage that Obama and the Obamacrats would design a program that is supposed to "help" folks get coverage but which, in fact, consigns millions of people to the uninsured.
Let me put it this way: imagine the reaction from the Democrats if a plan were proposed that limited voting only to 80% of the folks who had access to a particular website. Is there anyone who says that voting is more important than health care?
We have been told for over a year now that the administration hoped to sign up 7 million folks to insurance coverage for the first time on the exchange. On top of that, there have been just over 5 million folks so far whose individual plans have been cancelled; most of this group will have to buy coverage on the exchange despite president Obama's recent "fix" that supposedly will allow some of them to keep their plans. So let's say that only 3 million people out of the 5 million will end up buying insurance on the exchange. That makes a total of 10 million people who are being sent to the exchange.
In typical big government, Washington fashion, we are now being told that if only two million of these people are unable to buy insurance on the exchange, it will be a big success. That is two million families without insurance. That is probably 4 million Americans who could not buy insurance on the exchange. Only in Washington could 4 million uninsured people be touted as a success.
This sounds terrible, to be sure, but it's actually worse. If you read the WaPo story closely, you find out that the 80% figure for "success" is actually 80% of the folks who make it onto the website. All those people who do not or cannot go to the website are not counted. Now I know that most Americans have access to the internet, but not everyone does. There are tens of millions of people without that access. Some people do not have computers or other devices that can connect. Others do not live close to a library or other place where they could get on line. Still others live close enough to such a place, but have no idea how to use the internet were they to go there. Sure, it is a small minority, but it is, nevertheless, millions of people!
Before Obamacare, if one of these folks wanted to buy health insurance, he or she could call a broker or an individual company and do so. That is still possible, although the choices are now severly limited and the prices are much higher. And that's the point. The prices are higher, and for many people they are clearly out of reach. These people need the government subsidies in order to afford coverage under the higher priced Obamacare policies. But the only place to get those subsidies is on the exchanges. So, for the millions of folks who cannot get on the exchanges, the subsidies go out the window.
It is an outrage that Obama and the Obamacrats would design a program that is supposed to "help" folks get coverage but which, in fact, consigns millions of people to the uninsured.
Let me put it this way: imagine the reaction from the Democrats if a plan were proposed that limited voting only to 80% of the folks who had access to a particular website. Is there anyone who says that voting is more important than health care?
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