For eighteen months after president Obama took office, America was repeatedly told that passage of Obamacare was needed because there were millions of uninsured people who were just one illness away from bankruptcy. The figure usually used by the Obamacare proponents was 47 million uninsured. According to the proponents, it was a moral imperative to get these folks insured through Obamacare.
Of course, the question of the moment is whether or not Obamacare has worked. In other words, forgetting all the side issues, are there big reductions in the number of uninsured folks now that the law is in full effect? Let's take a look and see what we know as of the moment.
1. We know that in the individual market, over 7 million policies have been cancelled due to Obamacare. Those are policies, not people. The number of people who lost insurance with these cancellations is closer to 15 million.
2. We know that millions of policies in the small group market have been cancelled as well. (My own policy fits into this group.) At the moment, however, there are no reliable figures to determine just how many policies have been lost or how many people that effects.
3. We also know that by the start of next year, there are expected to be massive numbers of cancellations in the large group market. Many big employers are expected to drop insurance coverage while many other existing plans are expected to be cancelled. Again, there are no reliable figures here as to the current numbers of policies lost in this market.
4. Overall, the federal government estimated that the most likely number of policies in all markets which will be cancelled due to Obamacare is 97 million.
5. Meanwhile, there have been 2.2 million people who have selected insurance policies on the Obamacare exchanges through the end of 2013. Because the government reports the number of people who have selected policies on the website rather than the number who have actually made the purchase of insurance and paid the initial premium, we do not have any accurate figures about the number of people who have used the Obamacare site to buy insurance. The rough data available indicates that the total is something less than one million people.
6. What we do not know, however, is how many of the one million people who bought insurance were people who already had insurance. How many of the people whose policies were cancelled went on the web and bought a new policy through the Obamacare exchange? We just do not know. Such people, however, do not reduce the number of uninsured Americans; they just go from one policy to another.
7. We also do not know how many people bought insurance directly from companies rather than using the website. Since there are no subsidies available for direct purchase of insurance, however, and since the premiums for the policies have skyrocketed, it seems safe to say that folks in this group are not previously uninsured. It seems unreasonable to think that there are many people who did not have insurance when the prices were lower who now have purchased coverage right after the prices soared.
8. Obviously, there is a lot of uncertainty in the above figures. Nevertheless, we can easily tell that the number of people who lost coverage is way more than the number who gained insurance under Obamacare.
9. Then there is Medicaid. The Obama administration touts figures of many millions who have signed up for Medicaid on the exchanges. They count every one of these people as newly insured. That, however, is not accurate. Some of the people who signed up already qualified for Medicaid even without Obamacare. There is a normal turnover in the Medicaid rolls as people find or lose jobs and move up and down the income ladder. Recent news reports put the number of additional folks signing up for Medicaid due to Obamacare as something in the area of half a million people during the last four months. These are the only people who count in determining the success of Obamacare.
So where does this leave us? Right now, it still appears as if there are more people who have lost insurance coverage than who have gained it due to Obamacare even when one includes the effect of Medicaid. Let me say this another way: SO FAR OBAMACARE HAS BEEN A COMPLETE FAILURE!!!!!!! It was supposed to reduce the ranks of the uninsured. It has not done so! What it has done is disrupted the economy, disrupted the lives of millions of Americans, raised the cost of health insurance, created a big new bureaucracy that seem unable to function, cut millions of Americans off from their doctors and hospitals of choice, reduced access to quality healthcare, and wasted billions of federal tax dollars on disasters like the construction of the website and other things.
The next time someone say that the needs to be an alternative offered to Obamacare, just tell them this: under the old system, more people had insurance, healthcare was less expensive, access to doctors and hospitals was better, and the economy did not have to suffer the burden of all the new Obamacare taxes. In other words, the old system was better than Obamacare. Repealing Obamacare will make things better. There will be time to figure out exactly how to improve the healthcare system. We cannot wait for that discussion to be completed. We need to get rid of the Obamacare monstrosity now, RIGHT NOW, ASAP!!!!!!!
Of course, the question of the moment is whether or not Obamacare has worked. In other words, forgetting all the side issues, are there big reductions in the number of uninsured folks now that the law is in full effect? Let's take a look and see what we know as of the moment.
1. We know that in the individual market, over 7 million policies have been cancelled due to Obamacare. Those are policies, not people. The number of people who lost insurance with these cancellations is closer to 15 million.
2. We know that millions of policies in the small group market have been cancelled as well. (My own policy fits into this group.) At the moment, however, there are no reliable figures to determine just how many policies have been lost or how many people that effects.
3. We also know that by the start of next year, there are expected to be massive numbers of cancellations in the large group market. Many big employers are expected to drop insurance coverage while many other existing plans are expected to be cancelled. Again, there are no reliable figures here as to the current numbers of policies lost in this market.
4. Overall, the federal government estimated that the most likely number of policies in all markets which will be cancelled due to Obamacare is 97 million.
5. Meanwhile, there have been 2.2 million people who have selected insurance policies on the Obamacare exchanges through the end of 2013. Because the government reports the number of people who have selected policies on the website rather than the number who have actually made the purchase of insurance and paid the initial premium, we do not have any accurate figures about the number of people who have used the Obamacare site to buy insurance. The rough data available indicates that the total is something less than one million people.
6. What we do not know, however, is how many of the one million people who bought insurance were people who already had insurance. How many of the people whose policies were cancelled went on the web and bought a new policy through the Obamacare exchange? We just do not know. Such people, however, do not reduce the number of uninsured Americans; they just go from one policy to another.
7. We also do not know how many people bought insurance directly from companies rather than using the website. Since there are no subsidies available for direct purchase of insurance, however, and since the premiums for the policies have skyrocketed, it seems safe to say that folks in this group are not previously uninsured. It seems unreasonable to think that there are many people who did not have insurance when the prices were lower who now have purchased coverage right after the prices soared.
8. Obviously, there is a lot of uncertainty in the above figures. Nevertheless, we can easily tell that the number of people who lost coverage is way more than the number who gained insurance under Obamacare.
9. Then there is Medicaid. The Obama administration touts figures of many millions who have signed up for Medicaid on the exchanges. They count every one of these people as newly insured. That, however, is not accurate. Some of the people who signed up already qualified for Medicaid even without Obamacare. There is a normal turnover in the Medicaid rolls as people find or lose jobs and move up and down the income ladder. Recent news reports put the number of additional folks signing up for Medicaid due to Obamacare as something in the area of half a million people during the last four months. These are the only people who count in determining the success of Obamacare.
So where does this leave us? Right now, it still appears as if there are more people who have lost insurance coverage than who have gained it due to Obamacare even when one includes the effect of Medicaid. Let me say this another way: SO FAR OBAMACARE HAS BEEN A COMPLETE FAILURE!!!!!!! It was supposed to reduce the ranks of the uninsured. It has not done so! What it has done is disrupted the economy, disrupted the lives of millions of Americans, raised the cost of health insurance, created a big new bureaucracy that seem unable to function, cut millions of Americans off from their doctors and hospitals of choice, reduced access to quality healthcare, and wasted billions of federal tax dollars on disasters like the construction of the website and other things.
The next time someone say that the needs to be an alternative offered to Obamacare, just tell them this: under the old system, more people had insurance, healthcare was less expensive, access to doctors and hospitals was better, and the economy did not have to suffer the burden of all the new Obamacare taxes. In other words, the old system was better than Obamacare. Repealing Obamacare will make things better. There will be time to figure out exactly how to improve the healthcare system. We cannot wait for that discussion to be completed. We need to get rid of the Obamacare monstrosity now, RIGHT NOW, ASAP!!!!!!!
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