It has been over three years since the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was officially passed by Congress on March 23, 2010. In that time, the Obama administration was obviously unable to adequately prepare for the launch of the healthcare exchanges. This perfectly illustrates the inefficiency, dysfunction and mismanagement of our federal government.
The rollout of the program this week has been a disaster. In the first day, no one was able to successfully navigate the Obamacare website in states like Texas and Louisiana. After several days, none of the 365,000 uninsured citizens in Kansas had signed up for Obamacare.
There have been website glitches across the country and in many states exasperated people are claiming they still cannot access the website and are receiving messages such as “the system is down” or “maintenance” is ongoing. Others cannot login and are being instructed to endlessly reset their passwords. U.S. Representative Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) reported that he had to wait 60 hours “on hold” as he tried to access the site online and he was still unable to sign up for Obamacare.
Many people who investigated the healthcare options were quoted outrageous prices, many times higher than what they are currently paying. The President promised affordable healthcare and a decrease in insurance premiums, but it seems such promises are not being fulfilled.
Millions of Americans are receiving letters from their insurance carriers informing them about huge premium increases. For example, Tom Gialanella of Seattle was told that “my premiums would increase approximately 61 percent.” His deductibles will double, even using the least expensive “Bronze Plan” offered under Obamacare. He does not qualify for subsidies, so he is stuck paying more under a plan that the President promised would be “affordable.”
Gialanella is certainly not alone. Reports are coming in from across the country of Americans facing higher health insurance costs due to Obamacare. Young men may face massive increases in health insurance premiums. According to Chris Holt of the American Action Forum, a typical 30-year old male will face health insurance costs that will increase 260 percent using the “lowest cost Bronze Plan” compared to the “lowest cost plan” that is currently available.
With young people facing premium sticker shock, many will opt to not purchase health insurance since the increase in cost will exceed the tax penalties they will be assessed. Thus, it is no surprise that some experts are estimating that even after Obamacare; some 30 million Americans will be uninsured.
Without enough young people using Obamacare, the cost for the plan will skyrocket. The President is depending on millions of young Americans signing up on the exchanges to offset the costs of caring for older Americans. Clearly, this hope will not be realized since most young people will not be able to afford Obamacare.
The American people have seen enough of the healthcare debate and remain opposed to Obamacare. A new Fox News poll shows that 54 percent of voters would “like to see all or part of the health care law repealed.” In addition, 57 percent support the House Republican position and would prefer the law delayed for a year.
The poll also shows that the vast majority of Americans (76%) are happy with their current health care coverage. The problem for Americans is that their current coverage will be changed dramatically due to Obamacare. Thus, it is no surprise that by a 52-36 percent margin voters believe that the current health care system is better than Obamacare for their own family.
After a few days of Obamacare, Huelskamp nicely summarized our dilemma, “We knew it was unpopular. We knew it was unaffordable and now we know it is unworkable.”