There were three principal selling points for Obamacare. According to the laws supporters, Obamacare was designed (1) to get insurance coverage for the 47 million uninsured Americans, (2) to reduce the cost of medical care, and (3) to save money for the federal government. To be fair, no one on either side (other than the delusional few) actually believed that passage of Obamacare would reduce the federal deficit, so the purpose of the law was really just the first two items. Indeed, the name of the law, the Affordable Care Act was chosen because medical treatment was going to be more "affordable" and there would be more widespread "care" across America as the number of those covered by insurance increased. But here's the rub: the law has now conclusively failed to achieve either purpose.
First of all, the law has not reduced the cost of medical care for the average American. President Obama estimated the saving at $2500 per family, another of his phony promises used to sell the law. In truth, surveys have shown that in all but four states, the average cost of health insurance has gone up and the rise has been over 25% in more than half of the states. On top of that, most of the new policies have much higher deductibles than the older pre-Obamacare policies, so the total out of pocket cost of an illness to an insured individual has soared. Indeed, almost all of the new plans have smaller networks with fewer options than the old policies, so the average American is paying more for healthcare but getting less for that expenditure. There are some people who have seen reduced costs, but they are a small minority, many fewer than those whose costs have exploded.
Second, we now have learned that the numbers of people with insurance has not risen much at all. The goal was to get 16 million uninsured people added to those with coverage. That number was to have been reached by the end of this month when the sign up period ended. According to the Washington Post, only 27% of those who signed up for insurance on the exchanges are people who were previously uninsured, and only half of that group has actually paid for the insurance. That means that only about 600,000 Americans have gained insurance coverage on the exchanges. Add to that the 2.5 million people who gained limited coverage through Medicaid and you find that only approximately 3 million people got insurance. That is less than 20% of the state goal of 16 million. On top of this we know that something like 8 million people lost coverage due to Obamacare, and we do not yet know how many of these people replaced that coverage. It may well be that Obamacare has actually reduced the number of people with coverage across the country.
Simply put, Obamacare is a total failure.
First of all, the law has not reduced the cost of medical care for the average American. President Obama estimated the saving at $2500 per family, another of his phony promises used to sell the law. In truth, surveys have shown that in all but four states, the average cost of health insurance has gone up and the rise has been over 25% in more than half of the states. On top of that, most of the new policies have much higher deductibles than the older pre-Obamacare policies, so the total out of pocket cost of an illness to an insured individual has soared. Indeed, almost all of the new plans have smaller networks with fewer options than the old policies, so the average American is paying more for healthcare but getting less for that expenditure. There are some people who have seen reduced costs, but they are a small minority, many fewer than those whose costs have exploded.
Second, we now have learned that the numbers of people with insurance has not risen much at all. The goal was to get 16 million uninsured people added to those with coverage. That number was to have been reached by the end of this month when the sign up period ended. According to the Washington Post, only 27% of those who signed up for insurance on the exchanges are people who were previously uninsured, and only half of that group has actually paid for the insurance. That means that only about 600,000 Americans have gained insurance coverage on the exchanges. Add to that the 2.5 million people who gained limited coverage through Medicaid and you find that only approximately 3 million people got insurance. That is less than 20% of the state goal of 16 million. On top of this we know that something like 8 million people lost coverage due to Obamacare, and we do not yet know how many of these people replaced that coverage. It may well be that Obamacare has actually reduced the number of people with coverage across the country.
Simply put, Obamacare is a total failure.
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