Six years in and, with tens of millions of Americans still uninsured, millions of others paying more and health insurers running for the exits, ObamaCare is a disaster.
Many Americans will never forget the night that President Barack Obama signed his singular “greatest acheivement,” the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), into law.
Nor will they forget when, during the signing ceremony, Vice President Joe Biden leaned over and whispered into Obama’s ear, “this is a big f*cking deal.”
As it turns out, six years after ObamaCare’s passage, the ACA is, in fact, a B.F.D.—A big freakin’ disaster.
Here are five reasons why:
1.Millions still uninsured…
One of the primary arguments for passage of ObamaCare was that there were far too many Americans uninsured.
Yet, six years after its passage, there are still between 24 million and 29 million Americans uninsured (depending on the sources).
Worse yet, according to a the Gallup organization, when the period of the Great Recession and its extraordinarily high unemployment are excluded, the percentage of uninsured Americans has only fallen four percent—from 14.8 percent in 2008 to 10.8 percent today.
2. More, not less, Americans are using emergency rooms
One of the rationales used by politicians to sell the American public on healthcare reform was that too many people were going to the emergency room instead of their own doctors which drove up costs.
Well, as with other ACA promises, it appears that has not worked out as planned either as more people (not less) are going to ERs than before ObamaCare was passed.
Two research projects — one in Illinois and another in Massachusetts — seem to indicate that more people are now seeking care in hospital emergency units than before the ACA came into being.
3. Healthcare is still too expensive for a significant number of Americans
While the number of Americans who are struggling to pay for healthcare has declined slightly (from 19.7 percent in 2008 to 15.5 percent today), the number is still significantly high.
This means the promise of having “affordable” healthcare has not been met for millions of Americans.
As Gallup notes:
Even though fewer Americans are struggling to afford healthcare, other Gallup trends suggest that the Affordable Care Act may not be meeting its goal of reducing healthcare costs. [Emphasis added.]
Indeed, when last surveyed on the matter in December 2015, nearly three quarters of Americans said their health care costs had gone up in the previous year.
4. Costs continue to rise every year
Again, one of the selling points of the Affordable Care Act was the term “affordable.”
Yet, for millions of Americans, the cost of health care has risen substantially—and it appears it will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.
For example, from 2013 to 2014, across all age groups and among both men and women, the increases in unsubsidized premiums ranged from a minimum increase of 22.7 percent to a high of 78.2 percent in a single year.
Although not all of the increases are in yet for 2017, most states will have higher ObamaCare premiums, with four states seeing increases ranging from 23 percent (in Kentucky) to 62 percent (in Tennessee).
5. Health insurers are running for the exits on ObamaCare
ObamaCare’s success largely depended on competition from having multiple insurers compete for consumers.
However, several big insurance companies, as well as several smaller companies and co-ops, found that they could not compete in the individual marketplace, they pulled out of offering coverage in many areas.
As a result, more than a third of the country may soon have only one insurer offering coverage on the ObamaCare exchange.
That lack of competition will likely cause a spike in premiums for those getting coverage as the sicker patients (who drive up costs) will not be spread out over multiple insurers.
What’s next?
While ObamaCare is a disaster, there will likely be one of two scenarous play out.
One scenario is that the politicians who created the mess will roll back ObamaCare and its various regulations to let the (truly) free market work;
Or, more likely, the second scenario is to see the U.S. move more toward a socialized (or single-payer) for of health care.
In either case, the disastrous effects of ObamaCare will likely continue to mount for the next several years.
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