To argue otherwise is to claim that math no longer works. In 2009, the President stated, “We agree on reforms that will finally reduce the costs of health care. Families will save on their premiums; businesses that will see their costs rise if we do nothing will save money now and in the future […] whatever ideas exist in terms of bending the cost curve and starting to reduce costs for families, businesses, and government, those elements are in this bill.”
Let’s examine all elements of this statement:
“We agree on reforms that will finally reduce the costs of health care”
No. The cost of health care has continued to rise at 8 times the rate of inflation since the ACA was passed 5 years ago. This was obvious and predicted by almost all economists who noted the ACA did precisely nothing the reduce or control the cost of health care delivery, services and medication. No shock at all provider costs did not go down.
“Families will save on their premiums”
Families are paying higher premiums now, some exponentially higher than when the insurance companies drafted the ACA for Rham Emanuel. Were you one of those stupid enough to believe the industry would draft legislation to actually reduce premiums while having to sign up sick people with preexisting conditions?
“businesses that will see their costs rise if we do nothing will save money now and in the future”
Um, nope. Businesses, especially small businesses have been crippled by the rise in health care expenditures and coverage. Know what businesses are really taking a hit? Health insurance companies!
“whatever ideas exist in terms of bending the cost curve and starting to reduce costs for families, businesses, and government, those elements are in this bill.”
Bullshit. What elements of this corporate sponsored mandate to buy their private market product has done a single thing to reduce the cost for families, businesses and government? This is a bill written by an industry that still can’t make money off it. United Healthcare is pulling out of the exchange because even with subsidies they can’t make the accounting work.
There was only ever one solution and the anti-government crowd can’t stand it, single payer. There’s a reason it’s the solution the rest of the industrialized world has settled on and it’s not because America’s just so much smarter than all other nations and they just don’t get it. It’s because they had accountants and actuaries do the math then realized for profit healthcare is a farce wrapped in a lie. An immoral farce. Instead we coddle obstinate, introverted people afraid of change. People who still compare single payer to the VA when the two couldn’t be more different. They never compare it to Medicare, the socialized medical system in the US that is somewhat functional.
It’s time we call Obamacare the failure that it is and call Hillary Clinton a failure for preaching more of the same. Her love for all things Obama will be her undoing because to put it mildly, the man just got it wrong. He won’t admit his legacy legislation is a piece of shit. He’ll be talking about his ACA achievement on his death bed… while millions of Americans sacrifice their tax returns to the IRS because the fines will be less than the extreme cost of coverage with high deductibles in this failing system of mandated, employer based and private market health insurance.