Do you remember the litany from the Democrats about the uninsured people in the United States? I remember a lot of arguments about how many people were uninsured in America. There was a lot of discussion about how many of these folks were illegal aliens too. We heard about how a lot of younger people decided to go uninsured, because they considered themselves invincible. There are also some rich people that choose not to buy insurance because they can afford to pay for any medical care they need, regardless of the expense.
In March of 2009, President Obama said "all it takes is one stroke of bad luck -- an accident or an illness, a divorce, a lost job -- to become one of the nearly 46 million uninsured . . ." Was that the real number of people in the USA without health insurance? Who knows? I do know that the number of enrollees for Obamacare is reportedly something less than 7 million as we are reaching the signup deadline today. Let's assume for a minute that Barack Obama and our government are shooting straight with these two numbers. (I know that it is a big stretch to take any statistic from our federal government as accurate or true.) Does that mean that we have gone through a massive upheaval, the PPACA screwed up millions of satisfied Americans' health plans, and only about 15% of the formerly uninsured have insurance now?
Of course, 15% of the uninsured would have insurance now if the real number of people who have actually fully completed signing up for an Obamacare plan is 7 million and none of those people are replacing a plan that was cancelled. Reports from the state exchanges estimate that somewhere in the 50%-75% range were previously uninsured. It is also important to note that the nearly 7 million number is the number of people that have signed up for Obamacare, not the number that have actually completed the transaction and paid a premium. The number that are truly Obamacare enrollees with a new Obamacare plan in force has not been reported so far.
Like most solutions created by the MessAPolitico, the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act has done a miserable job of meeting its original goal -- providing health insurance to the uninsured poor. (Do the liberals supporting this MessAPolitico even remember the original goal? Was the real goal to create a great legacy for Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi?) It also has come with a multitude of unforeseen consequences. As far as affordability goes, a lot more people will have to drop their insurance plans if they get much more affordable. If more healthy people don't sign up, the premiums are going to rise further next year. With most of the Obamacare recipients having their premiums subsidized or paid completely by the government, what will our budget deficit look like next year and the year after and off into the future?
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