Obamacare was a fiasco from day one, with “at least 12 major broken promises” and has not improved since then, according to a new report examining the program's dismal 14-year history.
“The Lies of Obamacare” by Paragon Health Institute and the Prosperity and Liberation Committee is a shocking look back at the failures of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Attention: Deficit disorder
The ACA, which was forced through Congress on a party-line vote and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, is a “deficit-reducing health care reform” that will “save more than $200 billion over 10 years, or more than $1 trillion for Americans overall.” argued Mr. Obama. 20th year. ”
Anyone who has ever glanced at a deficit knows how well that promise was kept. Thanks to bad assumptions, failed gimmicks, and politics, the savings Obamacare was supposed to generate never materialized. “Most of the significant tax increases have been eliminated,” the report says, and “employer-mandated tax penalties are only about 5 percent of the projected amount.” The Community Living Assistance and Support Services (CLASS) program, which collected premiums for years before paying benefits and was valued as savings, was first repealed by the Obama administration and then by Congress. . The federal government's takeover of student loans was expected to save $58 billion by 2019, but instead lost $32 billion and is now bracing for even more deficits under the Biden administration's amnesty program. There is.
Obamacare was also expected to save families money on health insurance premiums, but individual market premiums and deductibles soared through the roof, and the report found that “only about 40% of prospective enrollees are enrolling.” “I couldn't become one.” However, this proportion has increased in recent years after subsidies were raised. The authors write: “The individual market has changed from an unsubsidized, lightly regulated market to one characterized by benefit mandates, price limits, and large subsidies.”
unfair exchange
Part of the enrollment shortfall may also be due to the disastrous launch of the federal government's Obamacare website, at least initially. Healthcare.gov crashed on its first day of operation and was completely inoperable for two months. After that, there was only registration, no accounting, payment, or authentication. It was also a security nightmare. The report goes on to say, “As a result of expanded subsidies and the Biden administration's mismanagement, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people will enroll in exchange plans without their consent by 2024. or switched from the selected plan to another plan.” their consent. ”
With little verification of registrant income to determine the amount of subsidy, Paragon said millions of people were “fraudulently registered on exchanges” this year, costing taxpayers $26 billion. It was estimated that The authors conclude that “admissions fraud is rampant, and in some states, the number of people in low-income categories receiving very large subsidies exceeds the number of eligible students in that category.” I'm writing.
Easy fraud, coupled with the Biden administration's decision to count people who came to the U.S. illegally as children as “lawfully present,” led to President Obama saying the ACA would not insure illegal aliens. “You're a liar!'' a claim that led to Congressman Joe Wilson's famous (RS.C.) outburst.
warranty fraud
Much of Obamacare's “success” in getting people into health insurance was due to the expansion of Medicaid, which supporters believed would be cheaper than subsidized private insurance. However, the report found that “the per-enrollee cost of Medicaid expansion is nearly 60 percent higher than experts predicted, and on average the federal government will pay less per enrollee for Medicaid expansion than for replacement subsidies for the lowest quintiles.” “We spend a lot of money on cost per person.” Consumers with income. ” Additionally, Medicaid expansion has increased emergency room use, especially for non-emergency situations.
The most famous promise made about Obamacare was that Americans could keep their health insurance and doctor contracts if they were satisfied with it. In fact, the ACA's mandate forced the cancellation of millions of plans and the creation of plans with narrow networks that excluded many doctors and hospitals. In 2017, the Obama administration “severely restricted short-term, time-limited plans,” leading to even more cancellations, the authors write. The Trump administration canceled most of these, but the Biden administration has imposed its own restrictions, which could lead to even more cancellations next year.
While the ACA was also expected to stimulate economic growth, it actually created incentives for businesses to reduce their full-time employees.
And, in President Obama's words, it would “end insurance company fraud.” “In reality,” the authors write,
The ACA has been extremely profitable for insurance companies, even after the separate mandates that penalized Americans for not purchasing products were eliminated. Insurance company stock price growth has been two to three times the average increase in the S&P 500 over the past decade. Essentially, the government now guarantees insurance companies a rate of profit, with increasing amounts of taxpayer money pouring into their coffers each year. Meanwhile, the cost-containing provisions of the ACA that insurers hated most were repealed.
Politicians, please heal yourself.
All of this was completely predictable before Obamacare became law. In fact, much of it was predicted by The New American. Unfortunately, in their rush to “do something” about the real problem of rising health care costs, politicians have done the same thing they always do. Instead of repealing the laws that caused the problem, they piled on more obligations, making the problem worse instead of solving it.
