I thought that with all the recent news reports about Obamacare, it would be a worthwhile task to create a timeline for that statute in which we could set forth some of the most important events that are currently affecting Americans.
1. 2009 and the first part of 2010 -- President Obama pushes for the passage of Obamacare. He and many other Democrats promise that people who like their plans can keep them, that people who like their doctors can keep them, that the average family will save $2500 per year on health insurance once the law goes into effect and that Obamacare will not increase the federal deficit at all.
2. The law was passed and signed by Obama on March 23, 2010.
3. May 2010 -- the Department of Health and Human Services announces regulations that make clear that existing plans will be cancelled whether or not people like them. The estimate from the Department is that there will be 97 million policies cancelled due to Obamacare.
4. Summer of 2010 -- the Senate votes on a resolution by senator Enzi of Wyoming that would reject the regulations from HHS so as to guarantee folks the right to keep their plans if they like them. Every Democrat in the Senate votes against the resolution.
5. Summer of 2010 -- the federal government begins work on the creation of the Obamacare exchange website.
6. March of 2013 -- a study done by McKinsey to assess the readiness of the Obamacare website exchange and the need for any corrective measures is completed. Despite three years of work and the expenditure of over half a billion dollars on the site, McKinsey finds that there is great danger that the website will not work on October 1 as planned.
7. March and April of 2013 -- president Obama along with the secretary of HHS and the head of the agency responsible for developing the Obamacare exchange website are fully briefed on the McKinsey study.
8. June/July 2013 -- Obama announces that the government will not enforce the employer mandate until 2015 despite the law's setting the effective date at January 1, 2014. This is an illegal act by Obama who does not have the power to modify the law like this.
9. Spring and Summer of 2013 -- as the date for the exchange roll out approaches, the secretary of HHS tells Congress more than once that everything is on track for the site to work well on October 1.
10. 2010, 2011, 2012 and most of 2013 -- President Obama continues to tell Americans that if they like their plans, they can keep them.
11. September 30, 2013 -- three and a half years after the enactment of the Obamacare law and after spending by the government of about two thirds of a billion dollars on development, the Obamacare website is supposed to go live the next day. More than two thirds of the site has not yet been built, however. Also testing of the portions of the site which have been "completed" show that the site crashes when twenty people use it simultaneously. Republicans have passed bills that fund the government but which require a one-year delay in the effective date of the Obamacare individual mandate.
12. early October of 2013--Although the Republicans are seeking a one year delay of a program which cannot function since the website does not and cannot work, Obama and the Democrats claim that the request is unreasonable and then liken the Republicans to terrorists for daring to suggest that Obamacare be delayed.
13. October 1, 2013 -- the Obamacare exchange website goes live and promptly dies. To this date, the site remains unable to process customer sales of insurance policies.
14. October 2013 -- As predicted by the regulations promulgated in 2010, about 7 million Americans with policies obtained in the private market see those policies cancelled as a result of Obamacare. "If you like you policy, you can keep it" is replaced with "If you like your policy, no one cares; you still are going to lose it."
15. October/November 2013 -- millions of people are left in limbo because their plans have been cancelled while they are unable to buy new insurance. America faces the prospect of millions of newly uninsured people.
16. October/November 2013 -- The public becomes aware that the personal information that they have to input on the Obamacare exchange website is not secure. Hackers can easily steal this information. This lack of security was known by the government long before the site went live, but Obama took no action to safeguard the identities of millions of Americans.
17. November 2013 -- Obama announces his "fix" for those who were hurt by his lie that they could keep their policies. Within a week of the announcement, however, state officials in many states reject the plan as both unworkable and unwise.
18. November 19, 2013 -- Congress is told by the second in command of the White House effort to fix the website that roughly 60% of the website has yet to be built. The problems are not glitches to be corrected. The bulk of the work needed for the website to work remains to be done.
19. November 2013 -- Although Obama promised that the site would be mostly working on December 1, the chances of that happening are extremely slim
1. 2009 and the first part of 2010 -- President Obama pushes for the passage of Obamacare. He and many other Democrats promise that people who like their plans can keep them, that people who like their doctors can keep them, that the average family will save $2500 per year on health insurance once the law goes into effect and that Obamacare will not increase the federal deficit at all.
2. The law was passed and signed by Obama on March 23, 2010.
3. May 2010 -- the Department of Health and Human Services announces regulations that make clear that existing plans will be cancelled whether or not people like them. The estimate from the Department is that there will be 97 million policies cancelled due to Obamacare.
4. Summer of 2010 -- the Senate votes on a resolution by senator Enzi of Wyoming that would reject the regulations from HHS so as to guarantee folks the right to keep their plans if they like them. Every Democrat in the Senate votes against the resolution.
5. Summer of 2010 -- the federal government begins work on the creation of the Obamacare exchange website.
6. March of 2013 -- a study done by McKinsey to assess the readiness of the Obamacare website exchange and the need for any corrective measures is completed. Despite three years of work and the expenditure of over half a billion dollars on the site, McKinsey finds that there is great danger that the website will not work on October 1 as planned.
7. March and April of 2013 -- president Obama along with the secretary of HHS and the head of the agency responsible for developing the Obamacare exchange website are fully briefed on the McKinsey study.
8. June/July 2013 -- Obama announces that the government will not enforce the employer mandate until 2015 despite the law's setting the effective date at January 1, 2014. This is an illegal act by Obama who does not have the power to modify the law like this.
9. Spring and Summer of 2013 -- as the date for the exchange roll out approaches, the secretary of HHS tells Congress more than once that everything is on track for the site to work well on October 1.
10. 2010, 2011, 2012 and most of 2013 -- President Obama continues to tell Americans that if they like their plans, they can keep them.
11. September 30, 2013 -- three and a half years after the enactment of the Obamacare law and after spending by the government of about two thirds of a billion dollars on development, the Obamacare website is supposed to go live the next day. More than two thirds of the site has not yet been built, however. Also testing of the portions of the site which have been "completed" show that the site crashes when twenty people use it simultaneously. Republicans have passed bills that fund the government but which require a one-year delay in the effective date of the Obamacare individual mandate.
12. early October of 2013--Although the Republicans are seeking a one year delay of a program which cannot function since the website does not and cannot work, Obama and the Democrats claim that the request is unreasonable and then liken the Republicans to terrorists for daring to suggest that Obamacare be delayed.
13. October 1, 2013 -- the Obamacare exchange website goes live and promptly dies. To this date, the site remains unable to process customer sales of insurance policies.
14. October 2013 -- As predicted by the regulations promulgated in 2010, about 7 million Americans with policies obtained in the private market see those policies cancelled as a result of Obamacare. "If you like you policy, you can keep it" is replaced with "If you like your policy, no one cares; you still are going to lose it."
15. October/November 2013 -- millions of people are left in limbo because their plans have been cancelled while they are unable to buy new insurance. America faces the prospect of millions of newly uninsured people.
16. October/November 2013 -- The public becomes aware that the personal information that they have to input on the Obamacare exchange website is not secure. Hackers can easily steal this information. This lack of security was known by the government long before the site went live, but Obama took no action to safeguard the identities of millions of Americans.
17. November 2013 -- Obama announces his "fix" for those who were hurt by his lie that they could keep their policies. Within a week of the announcement, however, state officials in many states reject the plan as both unworkable and unwise.
18. November 19, 2013 -- Congress is told by the second in command of the White House effort to fix the website that roughly 60% of the website has yet to be built. The problems are not glitches to be corrected. The bulk of the work needed for the website to work remains to be done.
19. November 2013 -- Although Obama promised that the site would be mostly working on December 1, the chances of that happening are extremely slim
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