XPost: alt.politics.democrats, alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.politics.usa   
   XPost: alt.politics.obama, alt.politics.miserable-failure   
   From: merve@att.net   
      
   On 3/15/2014 5:15 AM, Ubiquitous wrote:   
   > A new survey confirms that the “Affordable Care Act” has failed to   
   > achieve one of its most important goals — making health coverage   
   > accessible to the uninsured. As the Washington Post reports, “Just one   
   > in 10 uninsured people who qualify for private health plans through the   
   > new marketplace have signed up for one.” Why so few? According to the   
   > survey, which was released last Thursday by McKinsey & Company, the most   
   > common reason cited by uninsured respondents was lack of affordability.   
   > Out of five possible reasons for failing to enroll, most chose, “I could   
   > not afford to pay the premium.”   
   >   
   > The irony of this is mindboggling. For years, the advocates of Obamacare   
   > characterized the uninsured problem as a human tragedy that bankrupted   
   > millions and killed tens of thousands. The latter claim was injected   
   > into the health reform debate by a notoriously disingenuous study whose   
   > authors claimed that lack of health coverage caused the untimely demise   
   > 45,000 Americans per year. This “research” was debunked by various   
   > health policy experts, but that didn’t stop Democrats from quoting it in   
   > Congress to show that Republican opposition to Obamacare was tantamount   
   > to genocide.   
   >   
   > In fact, as recently as December of last year, the President was still   
   > peddling this whopper in an attempt to convince an increasingly   
   > skeptical electorate that his rapidly disintegrating health care   
   > “reform” program had made America a better place: “We believe we’re a   
   > better country than a country where… every year, tens of thousands of   
   > Americans died because they didn’t have health care.” If Obama actually   
   > believes the lack of insurance kills this many people, it’s a little   
   > difficult to see how he can maintain that Obamacare has “fundamentally   
   > transformed” the United States into a healthier and happier place.   
   >   
   > The answer, of course, is that actual facts have little to do with the   
   > claims the President makes for Obamacare. It’s pretty obvious, for   
   > example, that the 4 million sign-up figure touted by his administration   
   > is fiction. The McKinsey survey makes it clear that the actual number is   
   > less than 500,000. The reality is that Obama’s health care bureaucrats   
   > aren’t bothering to track how many uninsured are obtaining coverage via   
   > Obamacare. When asked for that figure, the government official charged   
   > with implementing the program said, “That’s not a data point that we are   
   > really collecting in any systematic way.”   
   >   
   > That’s right. The plight of the uninsured was a major selling point for   
   > the passage of Obamacare, and the law’s advocates claimed the lack of   
   > insurance was killing more people annually than automobile accidents.   
   > The Grim Reaper was mowing down uninsured Americans in their thousands,   
   > yet no one has bothered to ascertain if the President’s “signature   
   > domestic achievement” has reduced the carnage? There are only two   
   > possible interpretations of this revelation: (1) The Obama   
   > administration is incompetent beyond our scariest nightmares or (2) the   
   > uninsured problem was always a hoax.   
   >   
   > The latter is the obvious explanation. Obamacare’s advocates claimed   
   > that there were 47 million uninsured Americans. As far back as 2008,   
   > Sally Pipes explained in the Washington Times why that was a bogus   
   > figure: “The [Census] Bureau counts anyone who went without health   
   > insurance during any part of the previous year as ‘uninsured.’” Anyone   
   > without coverage for a single day was counted in the 47 million. Pipes   
   > went on to point out that this figure included 10 million illegal   
   > immigrants, 14 million people already eligible for government   
   > assistance, and about 10 million making more than $75,000 annually.   
   >   
   > In other words, the actual number of Americans who were involuntarily   
   > uninsured was, at worst, somewhere around 13 million. And it is a myth   
   > that these people were ever denied care. This is why HHS isn’t keeping   
   > up with the number of uninsured who are signing up through the   
   > exchanges. The plight of the uninsured was a phony issue. A genuine   
   > issue, on the other hand, was increasing insurance premiums. And,   
   > perversely, the authors of Obamacare never addressed the underlying   
   > causes of this problem. In fact, the ironically named Affordable Care   
   > Act actually exacerbated the cost problem.   
   >   
   > Obamacare nationalized a variety of ill-conceived ideas that had been   
   > shown to drive up premiums at the state level. The worst of these were   
   > minimum essential coverage and the guaranteed issue requirement.   
   > “Minimum essential coverage” is a euphemism for benefit mandates. Five   
   > years ago, I explained in this space why such mandates have driven up   
   > premiums everywhere they have been imposed. Obama has decided to delay   
   > the implementation of this provision until after the upcoming midterms,   
   > but this was done after the health insurance carriers had calculated   
   > rates based on the requirement.   
   >   
   > Thus, the high premiums cited by uninsured participants in the McKinsey   
   > survey are consistent with what they can expect when the minimum   
   > coverage provision becomes more politically convenient. Exacerbating the   
   > premium hikes caused by that provision is Obamacare’s requirement that   
   > insurers cover all comers. As far back as October of 2009,   
   > PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) produced a report indicating that “a weak   
   > individual coverage requirement, coupled with a strong guaranteed issue   
   > requirement and no pre-existing limits” would assure dramatic increases   
   > in premiums.   
   >   
   > Predictably, the White House and the legacy media denounced the report   
   > and vilified PwC. Nonetheless, these components of Obamacare are having   
   > precisely the effect on premiums that PwC predicted. So, however many   
   > uninsured individuals there are out there, they have less incentive to   
   > buy coverage than ever. To remain uninsured costs them virtually nothing   
   > and they can get insurance with no questions asked if they need it. So,   
   > the only surprising thing about the McKinsey survey is that it surprised   
   > anyone.   
   >   
      
   http://www.yourhealthcaresimplified.org/news/the-pros-and-cons-o   
   -obamacare/?gclid=CMXT8LzFlb0CFfNxOgodQRMA_g   
      
      
   http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-facts.php   
      
   http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/03/12/obamacare-s   
   ill-isnt-failing-but-its-not-succeeding/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)