Obamacare - an Overreaching Monstrosity that Must Be Repealed

Obamacare continues to be a sinkhole for American taxpayer dollars. Four states that have already spent a half-billion dollars in federal money to build their own state Obamacare exchanges are facing an unconscionable decision - take more federal dollars to correct their websites or transfer to the federal exchange, scrapping the sites and throwing away the $474 million already spent. The sites for Massachusetts, Oregon, Nevada and Maryland are all considered failures, and the government must either write them checks to try to get it right the second time around, or for less money include them with other states that use the federal website to service Obamacare plans. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates the federal government has approved $4.698 billion since 2011 for states to create their own exchanges. The four states with failed sites have already used the $474 million to build their own healthcare exchanges, and the money lost would be higher if other states with failed exchanges, including Minnesota and Hawaii, were counted. *OREGON's state health care exchange has been troubled by glitches since it opened on October 1. In April, the "Cover Oregon" board voted to move the exchange to the federal government, scrapping it after spending $303 million. The Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI has joined other agencies in looking into the scrapped program, saying the agency has interviewed several people as part of its inquiry. Oregon's online system never completely opened and is regarded as the worst of those in the more than a dozen states who chose to develop their own online health insurance marketplaces. "Cover Oregon" and the site's vendor-builder, Oracle Corp., have not been able to repair the glitches, forcing Oregonians to use a hybrid paper-online process to sign up for Obamacare. The paper processing efforts have cost the state another $7 million, in addition to $134 million in federal funding paid to Oracle. This mess made Oregon the only state to receive a month-long enrollment extension. *In MASSACHUSETTS, whose exchange was the pioneering model for Obamacare, officials want to build a new site from scratch while using the federal exchange as a backup. If this approach is approved, reports Politico, it would cost more than $120 million, added to the $170 million that has already been awarded - nearly twice as much as it would cost if the state scrapped its own exchange and joined the federal exchange. *NEVADA expects to decide on its Nevada Health Link soon. The state has spent $51 million of the $90 million in federal grants it received. An outside report concluded that it would be very difficult to salvage the state site's flaws. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, always ready to find a non-Democrat to blame, says Xerox made the mistakes and should be held responsible. But Xerox is optimistic it can fix the issues, company official David Hamilton told board members at a recent meeting. *In MARYLAND, officials knew well in advance that its website, The Maryland Health Connection, for which $170 million was allocated, would not be able to launch on time, according to the Washington Post. And while political leaders called Maryland's exchange a national model, the system has hired three different property managers and key people have left the project, including one of its top information technology officials. Within minutes of its launch on October 1, the state website crashed. Its exchange director resigned in December. The state is now in the process of trying to transition to technology used by Connecticut's highly regarded system, a move that must be approved federally. If not approved, then the federal health care website will be Maryland's only option. ~~~~~ But, failed state exchange websites is only one of Obamacare's failures. While the public and media are focused on the final sign-up results, the Congressional Budget Office in February estimated that the federal Obamacare cost will be more than $2 trillion. The categories that are generally included in the cost of Obamacare are : the gross cost, the net cost and the deficit effect. When CBO analysts most recently looked at the gross cost of expanding Medicaid and giving subsidies to individuals to purchase insurance through the new exchanges - the bulk of the law's spending - they came up with slightly more than $2 trillion for 2015 through 2024. After deducting some offsets from the law - such as penalty payments from employers and individuals due to insurance mandates - the CBO estimated the net cost at $1.5 trillion. The CBO hasn't done a stand-alone deficit analysis on Obamacare since 2012, when its analysts estimated the law would reduce deficits by $109 billion, when all tax increases, Medicare cuts and other savings are taken into account. The only sure bet here is that Obamacare will generate budget deficits, no matter what the Obama administration tries to tell Americans. ~~~~~ As the endless list of negative Obamacare developments grows, the National Journal “Hotline” reported in April that “disapproval of the health care law” has “put Democrats on the defensive” heading into the November midterm elections. According to the NJ Hotline : *The Kaiser Family Foundation’s recent polling data reveal that 56% of uninsured Americans - the very people whom Obamacare purports to help - do not like Obamacare. *According to the Obama administration’s own figures, Obamacare will spike premiums on 11 million small business employees. A new report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services concluded that 2/3 of small businesses that offer health insurance will pay higher premiums because of Obamacare. That, reports the Washington Post, means 11 million workers can expect their premiums to jump because of Obamacare. Worse for Democrats, because many employers renewed their pre-Obamacare health plans before the end of 2013, these rate spikes could be timed to hit beginning in the second part of 2014 right before the November 4 midterm elections. *The CBO says Obamacare will kill 2.5 million jobs over the next 10 years. By creating disincentives to work, the CBO says Obamacare will result in a “decline in the number of full-time equivalent workers of about 2 million in 2017, rising to about 2.5 million in 2024.” *Obamacare will cost taxpayers between $1.8 and $2.6 trillion over the next decade. The CBO reported that Obamacare will cost American taxpayers $1.798 trillion. But, the Senate GOP Budget Committee says those figures are based on overly optimistic economic assumptions and sets the real cost at $2.6 trillion. *According to the New York Times, 800,000 Obamacare enrollees failed to pay their first premium. The Times says at least 20% of all the people who applied for Obamacare never paid their first month’s premium, thereby rendering them still uninsured. *The purported purpose of Obamacare was to increase health care coverage of uninsured Americans. However, a recent study has found that “only 11% of consumers who bought new coverage under the law were previously uninsured.” *Obama assured Americans at least 36 times that if they liked their health care plan, they could keep their health care plan. The now-infamous promise, “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan” was named Politifact’s “Lie of the Year.” Several Democrats running in tight races parroted the President’s comments before millions of Americans saw their health insurance plans canceled under Obamacare. Political ads have already begun hitting voters showcasing Democratic candidates repeating Obama’s ill-fated promise. ~~~~~ So, dear readers, if we can believe Obama, a big if, he says 7.5 million people have signed up for Obamacare. Blue Cross reports that 20% of them have not paid. At least 3.5 million of them already had health insurance policies that were canceled because of Obamacare. So to insure 4 million people at a cost of $2.6 trillion over 10 years, this monstrosity could cost American taxpayers $650,000 per person insured. And the price tag does not include $1.1 trillion in additional paperwork to comply with 20,000 pages of regulations, fraud, angst, jobs lost, etc. In addition, for a law that White House Press guru Jay Carney said was so good it needed no advertising, taxpayer spending just for advertising the disastrous Obamacare is $684 million – and counting. It boggles the imagination. But do not believe that it is too late to repeal Obamacare. It is not. Vote in November only for candidates who promise repeal.