The Affordable Care Act passed in 2010. Key to the success of the act was nonprofit health insurance plans. As of now, 11 of the 23 regional Consumer Operated and Oriented plans have failed with 7 going down since the first of October. This, despite $1.1 billion in federal start-up loans. These loans will not be repaid and many consumers will be out some premiums paid when their insurance was cancelled. Isn’t it amazing that we read so much about the success of ObamaCare, but little of the eroding failures across the country.
These failures have caused more than half a million Americans to lose coverage. The total loans balance on the line for the surviving co-ops is another $1.3 billion. If they all go down, the loss will be $2.4 billion. Plus another half-million or so losing coverage. But, this is just the tip of the iceberg the ObamaCare liner is sailing toward.
A large majority of Americans have beef affected or some way by the act. And, in most cases, negatively. Fines go up for those who don’t take insurance this year. Companies providing insurance to employees have gotten large premium increases. Some have passed some or all on to the employees. Labor unions are facing the Cadillac tax problem. Small businesses are moving to more and more part-time employees cutting hours for many and forcing them to take a second part time job. State budgets are strained since Medicaid is really taking on most of the new insured consumers.
Medicare patients like me are finding our doctors either no longer taking us or requiring changes that require more out-of pocket payments. Emergency rooms are no less crowded than before ObamaCare. A friend had to go recently for a vertigo problem and said there were entire families there like a mass doctor’s visit.
Estimates are that only 9 million Americans will be enrolled in the plan for 2016. This group and their families are happy with the plan. For the most part, the remaining population is not happy.
That’s a big part of the population who want the plan revoked and are not happy with the man who did this and the party he represents that is telling them it’s a good deal and that we need more of this kind of help from the government. Kentucky just elected a republican governor for the first time in decades and most believe it was due to people in the state being unhappy about health insurance.
Watch carefully. Hillary does everything by polling. She has zero compunctions about changing positions. As the election nears you may see her distance herself from this plan and even join the republicans in taking a position to revoke most of ObamaCare. Can that really work? Who knows with a Clinton but this will be a key election issue.
A famous chemist stated a principle years ago, summary of it from Wikipedia:
“Le Châtelier’s principle describes the qualitative behavior of systems where there is an externally induced, instantaneous change in one parameter of a system; it states that a behavioural shift occurs in the system so as to oppose (partially cancel) the parameter change. The duration of adjustment depends on the strength of the negative feedback to the initial shock.”
Obamacare was one big instantaneous (in economic terms) change to our system. I saw all these things happen in microcosm in Massachusetts with Romneycare, so I knew what was coming.
Sadly, those who don’t learn the lessons of history and indeed doomed to repeat it.
Abraham Lincoln was right, you can fool most all of the people some of the time, apparently especially if you’re a Democrat.