Judgment Day: Obamacare Implementation Deadline Arrives

The president's unpopular healthcare law is now upon us, more than three years after Democrats -- and Democrats alone -- jammed it through Congress, over the wishes of the people. Large chunks of the law have already been delayed by presidential fiat, due to logistical unworkability. The remainder of the law is scheduled to come on line today, although various jurisdictions have already warned citizens that their systems won't be fully operational for weeks. The law will increase premiums, dramatically in many cases, for most individual market consumers. National healthcare spending is being pushed higher than ever, explicitly because of Obamacare. Deficits will rise. Families and individuals cannot necessarily keep their doctors, as they were repeatedly promised. Access to quality, affordable care will be reduced and limited for millions. Out-of-pocket costs will swell. And for the umpteenth time, even if Americans like their current plans, they very well could lose it (via an Associated Press fact check):

THE FACTS: Obama said exactly that. It was an empty promise, made repeatedly. Sebelius picks her words more carefully but still offers misleading assurances. Nothing in the health care law guarantees that people can keep the health insurance they already have. Costs can rise, benefits can change and employers can drop coverage....Some larger companies are already curtailing their coverage to avoid taxes that start in 2018 on high-value plans, those worth $10,200 or more for individual coverage and $27,500 for family policies. The AFL-CIO, whose member unions had supported the law, now says it is being implemented in a way that is "highly disruptive" to some union health plans, driving up costs for these plans to a point that workers and companies must abandon them. Continuing a long-term trend, many companies are shifting more costs to employees through higher premiums, deductibles and copayments.

In short, every banner promise made to the American people by Obamacare's pitchmen was false, which is why some of said pitchmen are trying to retroactively revise their sales spiel. Why did Obama routinely mislead Americans about keeping their existing plans? Because prior to Obamacare, a massive super-majority of Americans were satisfied with their coverage. As the roll-out commences, Obamacare is as unpopular as ever before. CNN's latest poll reveals that the law's support is underwater by more than 20 percentage points (37 support/58 oppose). The New York Times describes Obamacare administrators "scrambling" to prepare state exchanges for business, and "tamping down" expectations. And the White House has flushed another misleading pro-Obamacare talking point down the memory hole. This: