Back in 2008, Barrack Obama–a first-term senator, community organizer, candidate for president –claimed his new healthcare plan would reduce the typical family’s annual health insurance costs by $2,500 per year. As you know, the Obama administration eventually did ram (by one vote) this outrageous, purely partisan plan through Congress. And they put the Affordable Care Act into action this past fall with a disastrous “roll-out.”
So, now that the Affordable Care Act is in full swing, where’s the $2,500 savings he promised us all? Did you get your check yet?
Of course, the Obama administration seems to have long forgotten about that promised $2,500 savings.
But just last month, the Congressional Budget Office proudly announced that the program will cost the government 7 percent less than what they projected over the next decade. (If we can believe it. At least one well-informed observer doesn’t. And I’ll tell you more about him in a moment.)
The fact is, the government is saving money because you–the taxpayer–are shouldering more of the up-front burden in higher premiums. Plus, now everyone must pay into the system. Whether or not they need or want this insurance! So there’s a bigger pot of money for the government to spread around. And even more money passing through and into the hands of the health insurance industry. No wonder they are always the first ones at the table to discuss so-called “healthcare reform.”
According to one analysis by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, single men pay up to 99 percent more for insurance under the Affordable Care Act. And single women pay up to 62 percent more.
Plus, they forced millions of Americans who already had perfectly good, affordable insurance plans, which they liked and were promised they “could keep,” to “trade up”–at least up in cost.
In fact, as I told you last week, my insurance company recently sent me a new, shocking bill. My rate went up by a whopping 15 percent overnight. The insurance company told me the increase was due to the added costs of complying with the Affordable Care Act. And I live in one of the several states that already had perfectly good and successful plans to insure virtually everyone.
Apparently, a few lucky people do have reduced insurance premium costs. But that’s only because all the younger, healthier people must now purchase insurance–even if they don’t want it, don’t need it, and can’t afford it.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin is the former Congressional Budget Office Director and a frequent voice of reason. Last year, in an interview with Forbes Magazine, Holtz-Eakin said, “There are literally no comparisons to current rates. That is, [HHS] has chosen to dodge the question of whose rates are going up and how much. Instead they try to distract with a comparison to a hypothetical number that has nothing to do with the actual experience of real people.”
(Although I’ve warned readers not to trust Forbes’ health information, I do think the magazine, and certainly Holtz-Eakin, give sound financial information.)
Even Congressional supporters of the Affordable Care Act are now left speechless about the administration’s broken promises. On the mid-term campaign trail, first-term Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) were asked by a constituent, “Where’s my $2,500?”
They could only look at each other, dumbly and silently.
But it’s no laughing matter for the millions of Americans, like you and me, left paying higher premiums for a plan we don’t want.
One reporter recently compared today’s “where’s my $2,500?” question to Ronald Reagan’s question back in 1980: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
For many millions of Americans the answer is a resounding “no.”
Sadly, the Affordable Care Act does NOT provide safer, more effective, or cost-effective care. It reformed nothing. It simply rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic.
The difference is…this time, everyone is required to buy a ticket on a sinking ship!
No–we are not better off. And you can forget about your $2,500 savings.
In this new era of unaffordable health care, I suggest using effective, proven, and natural strategies whenever possible. They are safer and more affordable than many “government-sanctioned” treatments. But they won’t be covered by your mandated “health” insurance, new or old. So, just keep reading my Daily Dispatch. I’ll continue to bring you more proven and affordable breakthroughs in natural medicine.
Sources:
1. “Double Down: Obamacare Will Increase Avg. Individual-Market Insurance Premiums By 99% For Men, 62% For Women,” Forbes magazine (www.forbes.com) 9/25/2013
1. “Obamacare cost forecast is reduced 7% by U.S. fiscal watchdog,” LA Times (www.latimes.com) 4/14/2014