In the last week, the Democrats have tried out a few angles of attack regarding Obamacare. They seem to have settled on false claims of the program's success and blaming Republicans and the President Elect for anything bad that comes now.
Here's an example: Connecticut senator Chris Murphy tweeted earlier this week that if Obamacare is repealed, thirty million people will lose insurance coverage. That's just wrong. First of all, there haven't been 30 million people who gained insurance since passage of the law. The actual number is closer to 17 million people with coverage now who did not have it previously. Almost all of these people are covered under Medicaid, the government's program for the very poor. Many of these new people, however, were already eligible for Medicaid under the previous law, but never signed up. The estimate for those who were already eligible is 2.5 million. Less than five million people gained coverage outside of Medicaid after the law was passed. This is a big number, but it far from 30 million. One has to look at Medicaid separately because it could have been done without Obamacare at a small fraction of the cost. The Medicaid coverage may be left in place after the law is repealed. Without a doubt, the dishonest senator Murphy knows these figures. He inflates five million people who might lose coverage to 30 million who will definitely lose coverage.
Other Democrat senators are now calling whatever comes next "Trumpcare". The plan is to hang all the problems on Trump. Of course, if the new system is a clear improvement, that may quickly boomerang on the Democrats.
All this misses the boat, however. Obamacare has been a failure, a major failure. Let me give you an example or two. For ten years prior to passage, I had health insurance for my family through a group plan run by the bar association. Once the law passed, I could no longer get that insurance. I was one of those who liked my plan, but could not keep it. My new insurance raised the cost by 40% and upped the deductible from $1500 to $6500. I had much less coverage for a much higher cost. Each year after the first saw the coverage reduced while the cost rose. Then there are those who lost insurance just this year. Millions had policies with companies that pulled out of the Obamacare market. It left about a quarter of the nation with no choice; only one company offers policies in their region. It's hard to have competition keep down the premiums when there is no competition. The overall cost of the program is soaring. The latest estimate for the next decade is that the cost will be about 1.5 trillion dollars more than the original estimate. Even for the federal government, this is big bucks. So we are talking about trillions of dollars for worse coverage for most Americans. That is a failure.
The American people know Obamacare has failed. Every poll taken since passage of the law has shown the people oppose it. Now I'm sure we will soon hear that Russia somehow is responsible for that anti-Obamacare view. (Putin is behind everything bad for Democrats, right?) Virtually no one wants to keep the law as is aside from Obama himself.
The Democrats are on a sinking ship. If they fight to keep the law from being repealed, they will be in the same position as if they were on that sinking ship trying to keep the passengers from getting into the lifeboats. It's a major mistake on their part. Major!
Here's an example: Connecticut senator Chris Murphy tweeted earlier this week that if Obamacare is repealed, thirty million people will lose insurance coverage. That's just wrong. First of all, there haven't been 30 million people who gained insurance since passage of the law. The actual number is closer to 17 million people with coverage now who did not have it previously. Almost all of these people are covered under Medicaid, the government's program for the very poor. Many of these new people, however, were already eligible for Medicaid under the previous law, but never signed up. The estimate for those who were already eligible is 2.5 million. Less than five million people gained coverage outside of Medicaid after the law was passed. This is a big number, but it far from 30 million. One has to look at Medicaid separately because it could have been done without Obamacare at a small fraction of the cost. The Medicaid coverage may be left in place after the law is repealed. Without a doubt, the dishonest senator Murphy knows these figures. He inflates five million people who might lose coverage to 30 million who will definitely lose coverage.
Other Democrat senators are now calling whatever comes next "Trumpcare". The plan is to hang all the problems on Trump. Of course, if the new system is a clear improvement, that may quickly boomerang on the Democrats.
All this misses the boat, however. Obamacare has been a failure, a major failure. Let me give you an example or two. For ten years prior to passage, I had health insurance for my family through a group plan run by the bar association. Once the law passed, I could no longer get that insurance. I was one of those who liked my plan, but could not keep it. My new insurance raised the cost by 40% and upped the deductible from $1500 to $6500. I had much less coverage for a much higher cost. Each year after the first saw the coverage reduced while the cost rose. Then there are those who lost insurance just this year. Millions had policies with companies that pulled out of the Obamacare market. It left about a quarter of the nation with no choice; only one company offers policies in their region. It's hard to have competition keep down the premiums when there is no competition. The overall cost of the program is soaring. The latest estimate for the next decade is that the cost will be about 1.5 trillion dollars more than the original estimate. Even for the federal government, this is big bucks. So we are talking about trillions of dollars for worse coverage for most Americans. That is a failure.
The American people know Obamacare has failed. Every poll taken since passage of the law has shown the people oppose it. Now I'm sure we will soon hear that Russia somehow is responsible for that anti-Obamacare view. (Putin is behind everything bad for Democrats, right?) Virtually no one wants to keep the law as is aside from Obama himself.
The Democrats are on a sinking ship. If they fight to keep the law from being repealed, they will be in the same position as if they were on that sinking ship trying to keep the passengers from getting into the lifeboats. It's a major mistake on their part. Major!
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