To review the past discussions on this horrid piece of legislation, enter the term "unfolding disaster" in the search box above or just page through previous month's posts on the right side of this page and click on the various references to Obama Care. Very quickly, as your read the past posts, you will see that this is easily the worst piece of legislation ever passed by Washington.
Not only has it disrupted lives, stymied the economy, and increased healthcare costs in this country, it never addressed the various root causes of high healthcare costs. Thus, by never addressing some of the root causes listed below, the legislation has virtually no chance of actually reducing healthcare costs in this country:
- Americans eat too much of the wrong kind of food.
- Americans smoke too much.
- Americans do not exercise enough.
- The healthcare industry in this country needs serious tort reform.
- Federal government crop subsidies lead to our food chain being infested with unhealthy sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
- Current government healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid, lose upwards of $100 billion a year to waste and criminal fraud, billions of dollars that could be used to reduce other healthcare costs in this country.
- Cross state line insurance competition needs to be made easier to do.
- The Obama Care effort never “followed the money” to actually map out where the high costs paid by Americans for healthcare actually end up.
So with that gloomy set up, let’s see what Obama Care disasters unfolded in the past month or so.
1) Yesterday we discussed the reality that there is an excellent chance that the Supreme Court will rule later this month that the Obama Care policy holders who got their policies via the Federal exchange will lose their Federal government subsidies. Why? Because in plain language, the legislation says that only those Obama Care policy holders who got their policies via state exchanges, not the Federal exchange, are entitled to subsidies.
The language could not be any clearer. And the reason could not be any clearer either. The strategy was to force the states into building their own Obama Care exchanges with the stick hanging over their heads that their state residents would NOT get subsidies if their states defaulted to the Federal exchange. It was a political ploy that will likely backfire and crash the whole process.
But you can tell the President is clearly worried about the possibility of a negative ruling, given his quotes/pleas/threats over the past week or so:
- "This should be an easy case. Frankly, it probably shouldn't even have been taken up." In other words, Supreme Court justices, you are going to look stupid if you rule against me since you never should have gotten involved in the first place.
- In another setting Obama said it's safe to "assume" the court will do what most legal scholars expect and "play it straight." Obama said it has been well-documented that Congress never intended to exclude people who went through the federal exchange. But if they never intended to exclude people, why did they clearly write legislation to say those that got policies via the Federal exchange would not receive a subsidy?
- To rule the other way, the President said, would be a "contorted reading of the statute" and a "twisted interpretation." No, it would be straightforward reading of the English language, there would be no twisting involved.
- If the Court rules against his pet law, "that throws off how that exchange operates" and millions of people would lose subsidies. "It's a bad idea." Whether it is a bad idea is a matter of opinion which does not matter. We are talking about a matter of law and how the executive branch is not allowed to change an enacted law based on the executive branch’s opinion or whim. The executive branch is vested with executing laws as they were written, not whether it is a subjective “bad idea.”
- But really, who are we kidding. A primary Obama Care architect Jonathan Gruber, infamous for saying the law passed thanks to the "stupidity of the American voter," has repeatedly and publicly stated that people living in states that do not have their own exchanges cannot receive tax subsidies for Obama Care. He's argued multiple times the law was deliberately set up to force states into setting up exchanges: "I think what's important to remember politically about this is if you're a state and you don't set up an exchange that means your citizens don't get their tax credits. But your citizens still pay the taxes that support this bill. So you're essentially saying to your citizens, you're going to pay all the taxes to help all the other states in the country. I hope that that's a blatant enough political reality that states will get their act together and realize there are billions of dollars at stake here in setting up these exchanges and that they'll do it, but you know once again the politics can get ugly around this.”
2) What are the likely consequences of the Supreme Court rules against the law:
- According to the government, over 6 million Obama Care policy holders lose their Federal subsidies.
- According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, those 6 million people will see an average increase in insurance premiums.
- Florida residents will have the most Obama Care policy holders lose subsidies, with 1.3 million people losing about $400 million a month in subsidies.
- Texas ranked second in customers losing their subsidies, 832,000 policyholders losing $206 million a month.
While terminating Obama Care is the right long term solution, its demise will cause short term stress and anxiety in the short term, something it has done many times and in many ways since it was enacted.
3) A recent Heritage Foundation article by Nina Owcharenko pointed out that Obama Care has significantly increased the costs of not only Obama Care policyholders but also those that never obtained an Obama Care: “The Obamacare subsidies were intended, in part, to hide the law’s unpopular effects. At their root, Obamacare’s costly regulations, dictating what insurers can sell and what individuals and employers can buy, have resulted in premium costs going up, not down. In the 34 states potentially affected by the Court’s ruling, those regulations have driven up costs not only for the estimated 6.4 million receiving coverage subsidies, but also for at least another 15 million who have been forced to pay more for their health insurance without getting any subsidy.”
Furthermore, the Heritage Foundation did some analysis and research and found that there might actually be some good news if the Obama Care subsidies are struck down, similar to the findings of other organizations that we reviewed yesterday:
- Average insurance policy premiums could decrease by as much as 44% for young adults and 7% for near retirees.
- For young adults this is not surprising since the whole strategy of Obama Care was to force younger, healthier Americans pay for the health care needs of older, less healthy Americans.
- At the state level, the Heritage analysis estimated that in Arizona, insurance premiums could drop by as much as $1,044 for a 21-year-old and $402 for a 64-year-old.
- In iowa, premiums could decline by as much as $1,068 for a 21-year-old and $486 for a 64-year-old.
- In Ohio, premiums could be reduced by as much as $1,125 for a 21-year old and $633 for a 64-year old.
4) Given the following recent quote, the President is either supremely overconfident or delusional:
“What’s more, the thing [Obama Care] is working. I mean, part of what’s bizarre about this whole thing is we haven’t had a lot of conversation about the horrors of Obamacare because none of them come to pass.”
None of them come to pass? Is he kidding:
- He promised that American families would see up to a $2,500 decrease in their annual health insurance premiums. That is false.
- He promised that if you like your current insurance policy, you could keep it. That is false.
- He promised that if you like your current doctors, you could keep them. That is false.
- He promised the legislation would not add a single dime to the national debt. That is false.
- He promised that obtaining an Obama Care policy via the online exchanges would as simple as ordering something from Amazon or getting an online plane ticket. That is false.
- He implied that identity theft would not be a factor in the online exchange processes. That is false.
- He promised that Obama Care would make America healthier. That is false.
- He promised to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the land when in was sworn in. Given the number of times that his administration unilaterally ignored the tenets and schedule of Obama Care, this is false.
To prove this assertion, consider two pieces of information:
1 - Go to the following link to see a short compilation of news stories that point out the horrors of Obama Care:
2 - As we have often done, consider some of the horrors that indvidual Americans and their families have suffered as a result of the law, based on stories compiled by the website:
LARRY - MINNESOTA
For the past two months, Minnesota officials have celebrated how health insurance rates in the Twin Cities will be among the lowest available in the country next year.
For the past two months, Minnesota officials have celebrated how health insurance rates in the Twin Cities will be among the lowest available in the country next year.
But Larry Goedtel isn't joining the party.
Like some other consumers, Goedtel is looking at a steep premium increase for coverage that comes with new requirements from the federal Affordable Care Act.
Goedtel, who doesn't know whether he is eligible for a federal tax credit to offset the increase, said his premium will jump 84 percent, because the new rules say he must have a much lower deductible and purchase richer benefits such as maternity care.
It's no consolation, Goedtel said, that premiums available for 2014 will be cheaper in the Twin Cities than in Rochester, St. Croix County, Wis., and much of the nation.
"They're dictating what's good for me, and telling me I have to buy it whether I think it's good for me or not," said Goedtel, 60, of Hugo.
KYLE - ARKANSAS
My plan was not cancelled, it was transitioned to meet the new ACA requirements. The same plan that I had before, now costs me $70 more a paycheck. I have a family of 4, including 2 kids. I went from $204 a paycheck to $274 a paycheck. I get paid 2 times a month so that's $140 a month or $1,680 a year. That's money that would have been spent in the local community on buying goods and services. This figure does not include the slightly increased co pays when I go to the dr or the additional costs for prescriptions. I thought the ACA was going to save me $2,500 a year?
DENNIS - FLORIDA
I had great insurance for my daughter and myself. In 2008 I paid only $200 a month. On December 31st I lose my insurance because it is to good for the law. I have an autoimmune disease and will not have access to my medications since the managed plans do not cover them. I only see specialist which will end since I will need a referral every time. The price of the new plans $450 a month for less coverage. President Obama is a liar.
These are horror stories Mr. President and there are millions of others across the country, whether you want to believe them or not.
That will do it for this month’s update on the unfolding disasters that are Obama Care. If life is fair and the Supreme Court does the right thing, reads what is written in the law, and strikes down subsidies to two thirds of Obama Care policyholders because that is what the legislation says to do, we might be looking at a brighter future in next month’s update to the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care. If not, the disaster will just keep on coming, caused by the worst piece of legislation ever passed by Washington.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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