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June 22, 2013

Can President Obama turn public opinion on ObamaCare?

By Silvio Canto, Jr.

The Obama White House was supposed to spend the summer of 2013 preparing the nation for the arrival of The Affordable Health Care Act.

Instead, they are spending most of their time on other stuff:

1) The scandals, from the IRS to Prism to the NSA to the reporters.  Don't blame this White House if they are all walking around repeating the expression that "when it rains it pours".  It's really pouring right now!

2) ObamaCare is going through its own little storm:

The "exchanges" are behind schedule.  Young people may not get on board. Small businesses are not hiring because of the uncertainties. The "law" continues to be unpopular.  

My guess is that the unpopularity of the law may be somewhat a reflection of how disorganized and behind schedule everything is. 

How would you rate a company that promised you something by October and is way behind schedule?   Would you recommend their services to a neighbor or sue them for failing to perform?

Even Joe Klein called it "incompetence" not long ago! 

At some point, incompetence starts taking its toll, specially when the topic is health care. don't think that this administration understands that health care is a very sensitive matter to most people.

ObamaCare has a horrible "big brother" quality to it. It smacks of a government running your most personal concerns. The best example of this is The  Independent Payment Advisory Board.

 Who is this board accountable to?  My guess is that most Americans are very uncomfortable with the recent episode regarding 10-year old Sarah Murnaghan! 

Do we want government making those life and death decisions? I don't!

At the end of the day, the real problem is affordability.  ObamaCare was sold as a "cost-saver", a plan that would make health care more affordable for most Americans.  The reality is different, as we read in this Journal Times editorial:

"Despite assurances from Democrats that the national health care plan will drive down health care costs, the evidence is increasingly telling the opposite tale.

In Colorado, for instance, insurance companies just submitted plans to the state that show group insurance costs will rise from 13 percent to 30 percent, but individual insurance costs could go up from 60 percent to 120 percent.

Similarly, in Ohio, the average individual-market health insurance premium is now projected at about $420 per month next year -- up 88 percent from this year's rates.

And California? The land of moonbeams lived up to its flaky reputation last month when Peter Lee, the director of the state insurance exchange, trumpeted statistics that he said showed Calfornia's rates next year for small employer plans would range from 2 percent above to 29 percent below the current market.

Home run? More like a foul ball. Conservative economist Avik Roy looked at California's numbers and quickly called them on it. Roy said California was comparing apples to oranges -- looking at the individual market and comparing it to small-employer group plans which have already been subjected to regulations similar to those of the ACA.

When Roy did an apples to apples comparison of the rates, he found that a typical 25-year-old California man will be paying 64 percent to 117 percent more than under the five cheapest policies sold in the state today.

That's more than double in some cases.

As we get closer and closer to 2014, we expect individuals and small businesses in particular will be finding to their dismay that -- for them, at least -- the "Affordable" Care Act's title is a misnomer that will prove very costly."

Exchanges behind schedule and so called "death panels" will make it tough. However, it's the affordability of The Affordable Health Care Act that will be its undoing!