Search This Blog

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Living With Obamacare

It seems very likely now that America is going to be stuck with Obamacare for a bit longer.  The Republicans in the senate could not get 50 out of 52 to agree on a replacement bill.  The few who refused to go along are now responsible for keeping the disaster that is Obamacare in place.  But what does this really mean?

1.  Millions of people will soon either have no choice in health insurance or no ability to buy health insurance at all.  Fully one-quarter of the counties in the USA now have just one company that offers health insurance for sale.  That means something like 30 million people have just one policy from which to pick.  It also means that these same 30 million people have to pay whatever that one insurance company sets as the price for insurance.  On top of this, in a small but growing number of counties, there are no health insurers at all who offer individual policies.  People who live in those counties simply cannot buy individual health insurance.  If I were a Democrat, I would say, "people are going to die because of this mess."

2.  Millions more people have health insurance under Obamacare which is much more expensive than the policies they had in the years prior to the law.  As of today, the average policy is $3000 more expensive than before the law.  Contrast this to the savings of $2500 that president Obama promised would be the result.  The bottom line is that people are paying much, much more for insurance.

3.  Not only are people paying more for their insurance; they are also getting less.  The average deductible has risen by over 75% since the passage of Obamacare.  These deductibles have gotten so high that many people cannot go to the doctor because they simply cannot afford to do so after paying their insurance premiums.  Should I say it again?  "People are going to died because of this mess."

4.  The cost of Obamacare is enormous.  The taxes that were included in the Obamacare package do not produce enough income to pay for these enormous costs.  Over the next decade, it is estimated that Obamacare will add almost two trillion dollars to the deficit.

So tell me this:  why are the Democrats fighting to "preserve" Obamacare?  How is the USA benefitting from this mess?  Sure, the Democrats love to tell us stories about someone who had problems in the past because they lacked insurance.  A few anecdotes do not tell the story, however.  What is the good of getting coverage for a few million more people if the costs are so high that people cannot use that coverage?  What is the good of bankrupting the system and depriving millions more people of healthcare?

Since the GOP moved forward with its attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare, the Democrats have waged a campaign of fear against that effort.  They screamed that Republicans were "slashing" Medicaid; but that was a lie.  They screamed that millions would die if the plan passed, but that was a lie.  They screamed that the plan would leave those with existing conditions with no coverage, but here too it was a blatant lie.  The Democrats were successful with their allies in the media in getting the public to believe these lies.  They got what they wanted; Obamacare is likely not going to be repealed.  Now, the Democrats are going to have to explain how all the bad things that are going to continue to happen came to pass.  They fought replacement.  They fought repeal.  They fought any change at all to Obamacare.  Now, they will want to blame the ensuing problems on the Republicans.  After all, the lies worked once, so why not try again? 

The real problem here is that it is everyday Americans who are going to suffer the consequences of this disaster.  We have dishonest and dishonorable Democrats and a few feckless Republicans who made this happen.  We should all remember this at the next election.

No comments: