Thursday, December 26, 2013

After the Deadline, and the Extension of the Deadline, Obamacare Still Sucks

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, is a failure.  I don't think the leftists even expected it to be this big of a pile of stink.  Don't misunderstand me.  I believe the health care law was designed to fail.  What the Democrats want is full throttle, government controlled, socialized medicine.  They want government involved in every step of your life, and they have been wanting it for over a century.

Barack Obama, and his minions, knew that they could never get single-payer right out the gate, so they pulled this wonderful pile of manure out of somebody's desk, blew the dust off of it, and figured they'd know what it really said after they got it passed.  It was not designed to succeed because if it did, then there would be no excuse to go to Universal Health Care.  So, Obamacare was tampered with in such a way that it would fail, and take the private industry down with it.  Then, when that happened, the leftists figured the American People would be crying out for help, because the progressives have been successful in convincing everyone that health insurance is more important than breathing itself.  In other words, if they can't convince Americans they want socialized medicine now, they would do things to change the minds of Americans, so that they get to the point of begging for it later.

However, the journey to changing the mind of America depended on the full demonization of the private industry, while giving the public glimpses of how wonderful the government could be when it came to controlling health care.

Except, there have been no glimpses of "wonderful," and instead, we have had wide-angle views of how atrocious government can truly be when bureaucrats grab control of some new entitlement program.

At the very root of the problem is the fact that federal intrusion into the health care, and health insurance, industries are unconstitutional.  There is nothing in the Constitution that gives the federal government that authority (despite what Justice Roberts says).  And the government was never given that authority for good reason.  Services, such as health care, do best when based on individual decisions.  We should still be on a patient-provider system.  The very existence of insurance, in the first place, has put our health industry at risk.  And government thinks they can fix it by becoming the payer that is the cause of the problem in the first place.

So, as the deadline for individual plans has reached us, and has illegally been extended, the number of Americans proclaiming that Obamacare sucks is increasing.  Premiums are on the rise.  Deductions are on the rise.  Plans are being cancelled, and Obamacare alternatives are increasing in cost.

People are confused.  Didn't Obama promise free health care?  Or at least affordable health care?  Isn't that the name of the law?  The "affordable" health care act?

Hell, the Obama administration can't even get the website to work properly.

According to polls, folks are realizing they don't want government help, after all.  In fact, nearly half of those with job-based or other private coverage say their policies will be changing next year — mostly for the worse. Nearly 4 in 5 (77 percent) blame the changes on the Affordable Care Act.

Sixty-nine percent say their premiums will be going up, while 59 percent say annual deductibles or co-payments are increasing.

Only 21 percent of those with private coverage said their plan is expanding to cover more types of medical care.

Fourteen percent said coverage for spouses is being restricted or eliminated, and 11 percent said their plan is being discontinued.

Employers trying to control their health insurance bills have been shifting costs to workers for years, but now those changes are blamed increasingly on "Obamacare" instead of the economy or insurance companies.  The number of employers doing such things, by the way, are increasing as Obamacare continues to roll out.

The White House had hoped that the October 1 launch of open enrollment season for the uninsured would become a teaching moment, a showcase of the president's philosophy that government can help smooth out the rough edges of life in the modern economy for working people.

Instead, the dysfunctional website became a parable for Republicans and others skeptical of government.

Then, the tsunami of cancellation notices hit millions who buy their policy directly from an insurer.

So much for one of Obama's central promises about being able to keep the coverage you have if you like it.

Disapproval of Obama's handling of health care topped 60 percent in the poll.

And if you think it is expensive now, wait until the jack-booted IRS and Health Care Law troops start tallying your bad habits.  If you don't act in your life the way they order you too, the costs will go up even more.  Controlling the costs of health care is just another way for the government to control what you do, make you exercise the way they demand you to, make you quit eating the foods they don't want you eating, and make you finally quit smoking like they've been demanding of you for most of your life.

But don't worry, Barack Obama will continue to unconstitutionally alter the law, and delay mandates and provisions, through executive orders, as long as necessary, or at least as long as it takes before you quit noticing it sucks, and just cry "uncle."

Oh, and like all other liberal policies, Obamacare is also playing a hand in the continued destruction of America's once great, and prosperous, economy.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

AP-GfK poll: Health law seen as eroding coverage - Yahoo! News

Union official: Smoking, obesity, other health issues could mean paying more under Obamacare - Fox News

Mixed Messages Add Anxiety as Deadline Nears in Health Act - New York Times

The Hidden Impact of Obamacare on the Economy - Yahoo! Finance

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