Obamacare's First Anniversary

I apologize if politics isn't your thing (sorry Dena).  But lately, I have seen a few people post on Facebook and other media in favor of Obamacare.  I still love you if you recognize this as you, but I can't help but think you are very mislead about the realities of this program.  I believe we need to improve the system.  I just don't think we need to bankrupt the country and companies while we are improving healthcare.  I also read blogs and Facebook entries that have the attitude that it is time to make corporate America pay.  If that person is you and you are reading this now, please know that I will not be as sympathic to you when you and your spouse get laid off and can't pay your personal bills because the "evil" CEO's couldn't afford to keep you and your spouse hired due to ObamaCare.

One year ago, David Axelrod, then-White House senior advisor, promised that Obamacare would be more popular over time.  Well, the opposite has happened.  Look at any poll and you’ll see that Obamacare has only gotten less legitimate. Today, only 37 percent support it while 56 percent oppose. And according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, after Obamacare passed, 62 percent of Americans thought the law would either have no effect on them or make them worse off. Today that number is up to 69 percent.  So what is happening?

The reason why President Obama and his liberal allies have failed to turn public opinion around is simple: The major claims made by the President in the effort to pass Obamacare have all been exposed as frauds, and the early implementation by his Administration has been a complete disaster.

Here are some FACTS:

• According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), whose April 22, 2010, report shows Obamacare adding more than $310 billion more in health care spending.  This will raise the price of your meds folks.
• Again, according to CMS, 14 million Americans will lose their current coverage if Obamacare is not repealed.  You won't have a choice in what you get for healthcare if this happens.  See my blog "I'll have 40 snickers please" if you don't understand this concept. 
• We were promised that “The middle class will not see tax increases.” Yes, they will. In fact, most of Obamacare’s tax increases hit the middle class.
• Celtic Insurance Company in Wisconsin and North Carolina has attributed half of its 18 percent rate increase to Obamacare mandates.
• Just one year after Obamacare forced all insurers to sell coverage to all applicants—no matter what—insurers in 34 states have exited the market entirely, and 20 states now have no insurers that offer child-only plans.
• The Obama Administration predicted that 375,000 previously uninsured Americans would benefit from Obamacare’s high-risk insurance pools. In reality, only 12,500 people (just 3 percent of the initial estimate) obtained coverage through this program.

And the worst of Obamacare hasn’t even been implemented yet. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told the Seattle Times yesterday: “I think as the bill is currently written and if it was going to land in 2014 under the current guidelines, the pressure on small businesses, because of the mandate, is too great.”  This means that businesses will go out of business, period. 

Want some cold hard facts to support Starbucks CEO?  International House of Pancakes franchise owner Scott Womack told Heritage’s Tina Korbe: “Our average revenue per employee is $58,000. Our typical profit per employee is $3,000 and this legislation is going to cost anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000 per employee.” America’s businesses simply cannot afford Obamacare. It is, and is going to continue to be, a huge job killer.

And our nation’s taxpayer’s can’t afford Obamacare either. Last year, our nation’s oldest entitlement program, Social Security, ran a $37 billion deficit. This year, it will pay out $45 billion more than it collected. Over the next 10 years, Social Security will run a $600 billion operating deficit. Instead of making our existing entitlement programs solvent, President Obama created a brand new trillion-dollar entitlement in Obamacare. This trillion dollars in new spending is paid for by half-a-trillion in higher taxes and another half-a-trillion in stolen funds from the existing Medicare program. And the CBO just upped Obamacare’s final price tag by 8.6 percent to $1.44 trillion.

This is simply unsustainable.

Heritage Foundation says it well.  "Two hundred and thirty-six years ago, while making the case for Virginia to enter the Revolutionary War, Patrick Henry said: “Give me liberty or give me death!” After just one year, it is already clear that President Obama’s failed health care policies are a betrayal of the founding sentiment".