More About That “Rousing Success” Called ObamaCare
Time to take another look at our good POTUS’s signature accomplishment, ObamaCare. We all know it’s working out just so splendidly, right?
Well, it is until you ignore the baldfaced lies propaganda pure spin smoke and mirrors somewhat misleading numbers quoted by the current Administration. When you look at the actual numbers, and compare them against past estimates . . . the situation seems decidedly less than rosy.
Here’s an example. The Administration recently noted that ObamaCare “exceeded expectations” by getting it’s 8-millionth person signed up – when its enrollee target was 7 million. This was touted to the press as a “victory” – and proof of how well ObamaCare is “working”.
However, “ground truth” is a bit different.
At the time of the announcement, somewhere between 15% and 20% of signups hadn’t yet paid their first insurance premium. Until they do, they’re not yet an “enrollee” – because they don’t have any insurance until they’ve paid that first premium. A fair number likely never will pay up.
That means the actual number of ObamaCare enrollees was actually somewhere between 6.4 and 6.8 million – not the 8 million the Administration touted.
A more detailed examination yields some other rather damning information. At its beginning in 2009, 38 million people were estimated to be eligible for ObamaCare but uninsured. By this point in time CBO had estimated 19 million would be newly covered; CMS had estimated 26 million would be newly insured. So, how many who previously had no health insurance actually are now insured?
The answer is somewhere between 3.4 and 3.6 million. That’s a bit over 15% of the number of previously-uninsured people that CMS estimated would be covered by ObamaCare by this point in time.
Why so low? Two reasons.
First: far fewer signed up under ObamaCare than CMS (or CBO) had anticipated would have signed up by now. And second: because about half of the ObamaCare signups previously had insurance, but lost their insurance because it “didn’t qualify” under new ObamaCare mandates – regardless of whether or not it previously met their needs.
The Daily Signal has a great article on the snake oil the Administration’s selling regarding ObamaCare. It’s worth reading – but here’s the “money chart” from the article:
Yeah, that ObamaCare is truly wonderful – ain’t it? It’s just been a complete “success” so far.
We need to kill it with fire, and bury the ashes in quicklime. Now.
Category: Health Care debate
The problem is that they used the wrong tagline. Obama became the greatest gun salesman in history by promising “no one wants to take your guns” – which of course we all knew meant the exact opposite and sales soared. He just said “if you like your doctor, and your plan, you can keep them” – he should have said “no one is going to take your doc and plan away if you don’t sign up by June” – everyone knowing that he’s a lying SOS would have long since signed up. Gotta get the phrasing right!
Obama et al are liars. Period. (I’ll stop there with the adjectives.)
I’d be careful. Someone might call you a racist for this fact-based information. If they do, then it trumps all of your facts because an accusation of racism is like being called a witch or being asked when you stopped beating your wife. You really can’t defend yourself and if you try, you are only a liar. And liars can’t use fact-based information… it says so in the rules.
Yeah, I can’t go on without coffee. So, think of some more rectal-cranial-inverse thinking and then just say fuck it… that’s how the end of my rant would go.
“And liars can’t use fact-based information… it says so in the rules.”
I long ago stopped worrying about ANYbody calling me ‘raaaaaaaacist,’ because the FACTS (those pesky things.lol) always trump the personal attacks..
Heritage Foundation has some great info on it. It is interesting how people are still defending it and singing it’s praises despite the facts on it.
This one came out about an hour ago as well. http://twitchy.com/2014/06/23/liberals-attack-mom-whose-baby-lost-doctor-because-of-obamacare/
I don’t think it’s any great secret that this is nothing more than Obama’s way to force everyone into a single payer system.
Cloward-Piven healthcare…
I’ve told this before. I was sitting in the doctor’s waiting room with the wife. A family was near us. Man, wife, son and dad’s mom. Grandmom gets up and looks at the Obamacare bulletin on the board. She asks her son what it means. He lowered his continence and quietly said, “Mom, next year the insurance we have is going away because they say it doesn’t meet the requirements of Obamacare. It has been good for us and covered all we needed. But next year they are taking our insurance away from us and making us use Obamacare. Obamacare is going to cost me four times more than I am paying for our insurance now. I can’t afford it and I don’t know what we’ll do yet. Right now you are covered as my dependent mother, but under Obamacare you won’t be they told us at the work meeting. I just don’t know what we’ll do mom.” I was deeply saddened for this man. A working stiff, fighting to make ends meet with an insurance policy that was great for his family’s needs. Yet he will lose it at the end of this year. I did not say anything. There was a lot I wanted to rail about regarding Obama. But it was nothing he was not intimately aware of. That is a personal example of mine of Obamacare up close, real and personal. How many others like this man are in the same boat. A sinking boat that will put him and his family at risk if he can’t afford it. Plus I wonder if in the next Presidency, if Obamacare should be repealed, if those insurance company’s, like his, will be there to welcome them back with open arms. Something tells me no unless part of the repeal is that former carriers have to reinstate their policies to former clients. All that adds up to an awful mess in legislation and insurance company strong arming. Something the insurance industry and their powerful lobbying dollars will fight tooth and nail. It is a sad situation to me. Sad.… Read more »
Thanks, Democrats!!
[Begin Rant] Every mention of obamacare should, at least, mention the 5-4 Supreme Court decision upholding it. One man—John Roberts—concocted a crazy rationale that took the plain language of the law (e.g., penalty) and the concessions of the administration (‘No, this is not a tax’) and wrote the majority decision which confirmed the monstrosity. I curse that SOB’s name for the twisted, convoluted, and outright zany route he mapped out in order to conclude the act constitutional. The essential steps were two; first, sidestep the Commerce Clause or it would be certain death for the act. This he did with relative ease but it was dependent upon the second essential step; rename what Congress plainly called a penalty to be imposed upon those who fail to acquire health insurance and call it a tax. That he readily was joined by four other justices is frightening. It does not portend well for the country that members of the Supreme Court will honor their liberal agenda before honoring the Constitution. The appointments are post-presidential guarantees that the progressives will carry on well without him. One day, the people will wise up to just what sort of omnipotent construct they are subject to in the Supreme Court. But I don’t see that to be a near day. Hell, I guarantee that most Americans don’t know how many members of the Supreme Court there are, let alone who they are and what the Supreme Court does. We are so focused on our elected government officials, we tend to overlook what arguably is the most powerful branch, the judiciary. Moreover, the notion is mistaken that lifetime jobs on the Supreme Court all but ensure impartiality. On the contrary, they ensure that rogue and agenda-driven justices are free to do what they will. [End Rant]
And if it is a tax, the legislation must originate in The House, in which it did not. But oh nevermind. Healthcare is now a right I am told. The times they are a changin.
I was more than surprised when I received two separate letters stating that my enrollments in VA health care and in Medicare both met the requirement for obamalackofcare.
Maybe some day, someone will truly contest the bill and it will be repealed. I now wonder how many insurance companies are having to lay off personnel because of obamalackofcare.
BOHICAcare
Some of the arguments that the supporters give is that enrollment would be higher IF all states expanded Medicaid.
I would say this is true since the states that have done this account for much of the new enrollment in those states (such as mine)
What is not talked about is the effect of expanded coverage – longer waits in Ergency Deparemts.
In my civilian job I’m a paramedic and since the first of the year we have seen a 15% increase in calls, longer waits for beds in the ED’s, more diversions. One hospital explained it like this: in 2012 the average daily was 85 people since the first if the year it is 132 seen.
Now this is not all bad. The increase in numbers has seen a large reduction in “self pay” (uninsured) which means for my agency unpaid bills have reduced from 37% to under 20% with a total amount unpaid that is lower than the last two years. This will make our next contract negotiations better for us, maybe we can get our hourly wage over $16 for Paramedics
Top W Kone: eminently understandable. People are always less careful about spending other people’s money than their own.
That is exactly what is happening here with that increase in emergency room visits you mention above.