25 more reasons why it’s OK to laugh at anyone who thought Obamacare was a good idea
I’ve updated my list of Obamacare criticisms. The complete list can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/obamacare-59/
These are the new entries:
307) Obamacare, when combined with Obama’s executive amnesty, gives employers a $3,000 annual incentive, per employee, to hire illegal aliens instead of U.S. citizens
Obamacare, when combined with Obama’s November 2014 executive amnesty, gives employers a $3,000 annual incentive, per employee, to hire illegal aliens instead of U.S. citizens.
308) Obama administration falsely overstated the number of Obamacare signups by incorrectly including dental subscribers
In November 2014, it was reported that the Obama administration had falsely overstated the number of Obamacare signups by incorrectly including 380,000 dental subscribers.
309) After three private companies did exactly what Obamacare told them to do, the Obama administration sued them for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act
Obamacare encourages employers to offer their employees financial incentives to engage in healthy behaviors, such as quitting smoking, losing weight, etc. However, in November 2014, it was reported that the Obama administration had sued Honeywell International and two smaller companies for doing exactly that. The Obama administration claimed that by doing what Obamacare told them to do, they were violating the Americans With Disabilities Act.
310) November 2014 Gallup poll showed that Obamacare made health care less affordable, which is the opposite of what Obama had promised
President Obama signed Obamacare in March 2010. In November 2014, the Daily Caller reported:
Gallup: Peak Number Of Americans Delaying Medical Care Over Costs
One in three Americans has put off seeking medical treatment in 2014 due to high costs, according to Gallup — the highest percentage since Gallup began asking the question in 2001.
Thirty-three percent of Americans have delayed medical treatment for themselves or their families because of the costs they’d have to pay, according to the survey. Obamacare, of course, had promised that it would help make health care more affordable for everyone, but the number of people who can’t afford a trip to the doctor has actually risen three points since 2013, before most Obamacare provisions took effect.
The hardest-hit: the middle-class. Americans with an annual household income of between $30,000 and $75,000 began delaying medical care over costs more in 2014, up to 38 percent in 2014 from 33 percent last year; among households that earn above $75,000, 28 percent delayed care this year, compared to just 17 percent last year.
311) Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber secretly told the Democratic governor of Wisconsin that Obamacare would make premiums more expensive, at the same time that Obama was telling everyone it would make them less expensive
In November 2014, it was reported that in 2010, when Obama was telling everyone that Obamacare would make premiums less expensive, Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber secretly told Jim Doyle, the Democratic governor of Wisconsin, that Obamacare would make premiums more expensive.
312) California’s Obamacare exchange refused to pay Obamacare navigators for work that they had done more than half a year earlier
In November 2014, it was reported that some Obamacare navigators in California had not been paid for work that they had done at the beginning of the year.
313) Obamacare forced some people to buy an Obamacare policy even though they were also enrolled in Medicare
In December 2014, it was reported that some people were being forced to buy an Obamacare policy even though they were already enrolled in Medicare. When these people tried to cancel their Obamacare plans, they were unable to do so.
314) For some families, Obamacare’s “affordable” insurance can cost them “almost a quarter of their family income”
In December 2014, NPR reported:
Don Benfield of Taylorsville, N.C., makes $11 an hour…
The situation only gets worse if Benfield decided to add his wife to his employer policy. Adding her would nearly triple the annual cost, driving it up to $6,200 a year, almost a quarter of their family income.
315) Obama administration illegally told employers that they could not dump their sick employees onto Obamacare exchanges
Obamacare allows employers to dump their sick employees onto Obamacare exchanges. However, in December 2014, the Obama administration told employers that they were not allowed to do this. Because Obama made this change to Obamacare without approval from Congress, his action was illegal.
316) “I’m an Obama supporter. But Obamacare has hurt my family. Obamacare has been far more frustrating than I’d ever dreamed.”
In December 2014, the Washington Post wrote:
I’m an Obama supporter. But Obamacare has hurt my family.
Obamacare has been far more frustrating than I’d ever dreamed.
By Catherine Keefe
December 10, 2014
Obamacare brought us new health insurance options, but cost us our more affordable plans.
In November 2013, Jim learned his small-business policy would be canceled because it didn’t comply with the new mandate to cover pediatric dentistry and maternity care.
The individual plan I had with Blue Cross was canceled, too.
We learned patience, but we couldn’t keep our doctors.
We had applied online and sent copies of our passports to California Covered for verification, but we received no bill, no confirmation of our coverage, no insurance cards. Jim spent an hour and a half on hold once before getting disconnected. He tried again the next day, waiting another two hours before getting disconnected.
… the urologist wouldn’t accept our new Blue Shield plan – even though the Blue Shield website said he did.
We have no choice to opt out of the required pediatric dentistry or maternity coverage we’ll never use…
317) Harvard faculty members who supported the passage of Obamacare later complained that they had to pay for it
In January 2015, the New York Times reported:
For years, Harvard’s experts on health economics and policy have advised presidents and Congress on how to provide health benefits to the nation at a reasonable cost. But those remedies will now be applied to the Harvard faculty, and the professors are in an uproar.
Members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the heart of the 378-year-old university, voted overwhelmingly in November to oppose changes that would require them and thousands of other Harvard employees to pay more for health care. The university says the increases are in part a result of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, which many Harvard professors championed.
The faculty vote came too late to stop the cost increases from taking effect this month, and the anger on campus remains focused on questions that are agitating many workplaces: How should the burden of health costs be shared by employers and employees? If employees have to bear more of the cost, will they skimp on medically necessary care, curtail the use of less valuable services, or both?
In Harvard’s health care enrollment guide for 2015, the university said it “must respond to the national trend of rising health care costs, including some driven by health care reform,” in the form of the Affordable Care Act. The guide said that Harvard faced “added costs” because of provisions in the health care law that extend coverage for children up to age 26, offer free preventive services like mammograms and colonoscopies and, starting in 2018, add a tax on high-cost insurance, known as the Cadillac tax.
Richard F. Thomas, a Harvard professor of classics and one of the world’s leading authorities on Virgil, called the changes “deplorable, deeply regressive, a sign of the corporatization of the university.”
Mary D. Lewis, a professor who specializes in the history of modern France and has led opposition to the benefit changes, said they were tantamount to a pay cut. “Moreover,” she said, “this pay cut will be timed to come at precisely the moment when you are sick, stressed or facing the challenges of being a new parent.”
Jerry R. Green, a professor of economics and a former provost who has been on the Harvard faculty for more than four decades, said the new out-of-pocket costs could lead people to defer medical care or diagnostic tests, causing more serious illnesses and costly complications in the future.
“It’s equivalent to taxing the sick,” Professor Green said. “I don’t think there’s any government in the world that would tax the sick.”
“It seems that Harvard is trying to save money by shifting costs to sick people,” said Mary C. Waters, a professor of sociology. “I don’t understand why a university with Harvard’s incredible resources would do this. What is the crisis?”
318) Although Obama said Obamacare would reduce the number of E.R. visits, a Harvard study showed there was actually an increase
Before Obamacare was passed, Obama said it would reduce the number of emergency room visits. However, a study published by Harvard University in Janu
319) After Vermont paid Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber $80,000 for his “research assistants,” Gruber refused to provide the names, W-2’s, and other information to prove that these “research assistants” actually existed
In November 2014, after Vermont paid Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber $80,000 for his “research assistants,” Gruber refused a request to provide the names, W-2’s, and other information to prove that these “research assistants” actually existed.
320) Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber said “The real substance of cost control is all about a single thing: telling patients they can’t have something they want.”
In October 2009, Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber wrote:
“The real substance of cost control is all about a single thing: telling patients they can’t have something they want.”
Although liberals ignored Gruber’s remark, two months earlier, in August 2009, they were very critical of Sarah Palin’s claim that Obamacare would result in “death panels.”
I don’t know if Palin’s claim about “death panels” is true or false. But I do know that the liberals who criticized Palin’s statement while ignoring Gruber’s statement were being hypocritical.
321) Obamacare illegally gave the President powers that were not permitted by the Constitution
In December 2014, the American Spectator wrote:
The Constitution does not permit Congress to cede its legislative powers to any other branch of the government. Yet, this is precisely what the Democrats did in the case of IPAB. Prior to the passage of Obamacare only Congress had the power to make changes to Medicare’s payment rates or coverage. But PPACA transferred that power to IPAB, an Executive branch body whose members will be appointed by the President.
322) Julie Moreno borrowed $14,000 to pay for cataract surgery because her Obamacare policy refused to pay for it
In February 2015, it was reported that Julie Moreno of Mountain View, California, borrowed $14,000 to pay for cataract surgery because her Obamacare policy refused to pay for it.
323) Obamacare customer service telephone number connected an Obamacare customer to “someone reading off a script in the Philippines”
In November 2014, a New York Times article on Obamacare said that Health Republic Insurance was
… a new co-op plan created under the law, for people who lived in the area.
In February 2015, the New York Times wrote:
Compounding the problem is the lack of basic information to shop effectively. When Andrea Greenberg, a New York lawyer, called the help line of Health Republic to clarify the difference between two plans, she found herself speaking to someone reading off a script in the Philippines. “I was really outraged,” she said. “This is an important decision with potentially dire consequences. It’s not like you’re choosing a sweater.”
324) During the first year that Obamacare was in effect, the percentage of U.S. citizens who said they had trouble affording health care increased from 36% to 46%
In February 2015, the New York Times wrote:
A recent New York Times/CBS poll found that 46 percent of Americans said they had trouble affording health care, up 10 percentage points in just one year.
325) A year after Obamacare took effect, the New York Times wrote, “For still others, the new fees are so confusing and unsupportable that they just avoid seeing doctors”
A February 2015 New York Times article on Obamacare said:
“For still others, the new fees are so confusing and unsupportable that they just avoid seeing doctors.”
326) Although Obamacare gives employers an incentive to reduce their employees’ hours, Obama criticized companies that actually responded to this incentive
Because Obamacare’s employer mandate only applies to employees who work 30 or more hours per week, it gives employers an incentive to reduce their employees’ hours to 29 hours per week.
In July 2013, the New York Times reported that Obamacare
“… sharply penalizes full-time employment in favor of part-time employment.”
In July 2013, leaders of the Teamsters, UFCW, and UNITE-HERE sent a letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi which said that Obamacare will
“… destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class… the law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees’ work hours below 30 hours a week. Numerous employers have begun to cut workers’ hours to avoid this obligation.”
Although it was Obama himself who signed Obamacare into law in March 2010, in February 2015 Obama said:
“… when I hear large corporations that make billions of dollars in profits trying to blame our interest in providing health insurance as an excuse for cutting back workers’ wages, shame on them.”
327) Obama falsely said, “There is no reason for an employer who is not currently providing health care to their workers to discourage them from either getting health insurance on the job or being able to avail themselves of the Affordable Care Act.”
In February 2015, Obama said:
“There is no reason for an employer who is not currently providing health care to their workers to discourage them from either getting health insurance on the job or being able to avail themselves of the Affordable Care Act.”
However, in the same article, Reuters explained that there is indeed such a reason:
“The Affordable Care Act requires companies with more than 50 employees to pay for health insurance for people who work 30 hours a week or more. Reuters has reported that some businesses are keeping staffing numbers below 50 or cutting the work week to less than 30 hours to avoid providing employee health insurance.”
328) In February 2015, Democrats who voted for Obamacare complained that people actually had to pay for it
In February 2015, Associated Press reported:
Democrats seek relief from health law penalties
Senior Democrats seek sign-up extension for people facing health law penalties
Three senior House members told The Associated Press that they plan to strongly urge the administration to grant a special sign-up opportunity for uninsured taxpayers who will be facing fines under the law for the first time this year.
The three are Michigan’s Sander Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, and Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, and Lloyd Doggett of Texas. All worked to help steer Obama’s law through rancorous congressional debates from 2009-2010.
“Open enrollment period ended before many Americans filed their taxes,” the three lawmakers said in a statement. “Without a special enrollment period, many people (who will be paying fines) will not have another opportunity to get health coverage this year.
“A special enrollment period will not only help many Americans avoid making an even larger payment next year, but, more importantly, it will help them gain quality health insurance for 2015,” the lawmakers added.
329) Obama gave out even more illegal exemptions to Obamacare
In February 2015, Obama gave out even more exemptions to Obamacare. Because he did this without approval from Congress, his action was illegal.
330) Obama administration sent false tax information to 800,000 Obamacare enrollees
In February 2015, it was reported that the Obama administration had sent false tax information to 800,000 Obamacare enrollees.
331) “Why This Liberal No Longer Supports Universal Health Care: An Open Letter to President Obama”
Melissa Klein lives in San Francisco, California. In February 2015, she wrote:
Why This Liberal No Longer Supports Universal Health Care: An Open Letter to President Obama
Dear President Obama,
I voted for you in both elections. I’m proud to call you our president. I was a staunch supporter of universal health care. Thank you for following through on your campaign promise. That you did so IS significant.
But I have to say, you’ve let us down in a big way. This health care system blows.
For the past few weeks I’ve been dealing with this 1095-A issue. You see, I never received it and as you know I need it to file my taxes. Being a law abiding citizen and all, I typically like to file my taxes on time.
I called Covered California in January and was assured I’d get it soon. But alas, it never arrived. So, I spent my entire afternoon (and part of yesterday afternoon), on hold with different folks at Kaiser and Covered California.
At first I wasn’t worried. I mean, a) I’m insured. b) I have several letters from Covered California congratulating me on being insured. c) I have emails from Kaiser and Covered California confirming payment for insurance. d) I have my credit card bill that also shows that I, in fact, paid for insurance. And e) I’m insured!!!
My second interaction with Covered California on this issue was both straightforward and unhelpful.
“If you didn’t receive a 1095-A you have to fill out a dispute form and FAX it to us.”
I respond, “Ok, but I’m not disputing anything. I’m asking for the form you’re supposed to have sent me.”
Alas, my logic seems illogical to the person on the helpline and she tells me that her hands are tied and that nothing can be done until I submit a dispute form.
I sheepishly ask, “Can I email it to you?”
“No, but you can fax it.”
Of course I can FAX it. Cuz, we’re in 2015. Who doesn’t fax stuff?
Miraculously, I manage to find a fax machine and send over my dispute form.
I call back today to make sure that they received my fax.
After being on hold for 30 minutes I’m told, “We’ll let you know in 2 weeks if we received the fax. You’ll get a letter in the mail.”
So I ask again, “Can’t you just tell me over the phone?”
“Nope, ya gotta wait for the letter.”
I then ask what I think is a simple question. Shame on me. “Can you at least tell me if a 1095 was ever generated?”
This is when things turn from bad to comical.
“Ma’am, it doesn’t appear as though you’re in our system for having insurance in 2014. Are you sure you didn’t imagine signing up through our exchange?”
“I’m sorry ma’am but I think you’re mistaken. You signed up through Kaiser and Kaiser will send you the 1095.”
Getting through to Kaiser took a mere 48 minutes. But who’s counting? Once someone finally picks up I’m told, “Oh yes, I see right here, you were covered by us in 2014 through Covered California.”
“But you need to talk to them about the 1095.” Of course I do.
And so, I call Covered California back. I’m thrilled to inform them that I didn’t imagine signing up through the exchange and that Kaiser can, without a doubt, confirm that I’m covered.
I’m then told, “Ma’am, you need to submit a dispute form.”
“I’ve already done that,” I say exasperated.
“Well, they’ll figure it out within 60 days. Don’t worry you’ll still get your taxes filed in time,” The women replies matter of fact-ly.
“60 days?,” I respond again, exasperated. “Actually, if you’re telling me I’ll receive my form in 60 days I will have missed the deadline.”
“Oh. Sorry about that. You’ll have to file for an extension then. Is there anything else I can help you with?”