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Devastating: 90 Percent of Uninsured Haven't Signed Up For Obamacare, Most Cite High Costs
Townhall.com ^ | March 7, 2014 | Guy Benson

Posted on 03/07/2014 7:48:50 AM PST by Kaslin

Thursday was a very bad day -- perhaps even the worst possible day, in fact -- for President Obama to say the following about his signature healthcare overhaul: "At this point I think, actually, it is working the way it should." Here he is advancing that assessment, in living color:

Obama Won't Rule Out More Changes To ObamaCare

Obama's statement would sound wildly out-of-touch based solely on the recent announcement of his administration's 30th (!) politically-motivated Obamacare delay -- the repercussions of which expert Bob Laszewski discusses here. Adding insult to injury many of these on-the-fly changes have occurred after White House officials pledged the delay parade was over. But it gets worse. A lot worse. The Washington Post has published an absolutely devastating report about the administration's progress, or lack thereof, in signing up previously uninsured Americans under Obamacare. Which, you may recall, was the primary stated purpose of this $2 trillion law. This is what abject failure looks like:


The new health insurance marketplaces appear to be making little headway so far in signing up Americans who lack health insurance, the Affordable Care Act’s central goal. A pair of surveys released on Thursday suggest that just one in 10 uninsured people who qualify for private health plans through the new marketplace have signed up for one — and that about half of uninsured adults has looked for information on the online exchanges or plans to look. Taken together, the snapshots shown by the surveys provide preliminary answers to what has been one of the biggest mysteries since HealthCare.gov and separate state marketplaces opened last fall: Are they attracting their prime audience? One of the surveys, by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., shows that, of people who had signed up for coverage through the marketplaces by last month, just one-fourth described themselves as having been without insurance for most of the past year...The McKinsey survey also found, as it had during the previous few months, that, of people who are uninsured and do not intend to get a health plan through the marketplaces, the biggest factor is that they believe they could not afford one.


It's difficult to overstate the scope of this failure. Fully 90 percent of uninsured Americans who are eligible for plans under Obamacare have declined to sign up for one. About half of those people simply haven't bothered looking. Four out of every five who have browsed their options elected to take a pass. And if you're waiting for a statistical rebuttal from the White House, don't hold your breath:

CMS' Cohen, asked how many uninsured signing up for ACA: “That's not a data point we are really collecting in any sort of systematic way” — Sam Baker (@sam_baker) March 6, 2014


Among uninsured Americans who've said 'no thanks' to Obamacare, the number one factor (by far) cited is lack of affordability, even after all of the taxpayer subsidies are calculated:


CHART: McKinsey survey shows 50% who shopped exchanges and did not purchase cited affordability as the reason. pic.twitter.com/SqJMvqciL3 — Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) March 6, 2014


According to a review by eHealthInsurance.com, average unsubsidized individual premiums have increased 39 percent for individuals and 56 percent for families compared to pre-Obamacare levels. The former finding aligns closely with the Manhattan Institute's research. So the overwhelming majority of "new" Obamacare enrollees are people who already had coverage before the law was passed. Millions of those people were uprooted from their preferred coverage (a major broken promise) and forced into new plans, for which many are paying more. Disaster. And again, it gets worse: Of those few previously-uninsured Americans who have "selected plans" under Obamacare (thus fitting the administration's loose definition of "enrolled"), nearly half haven't paid their premiums. Those people are not covered:

CHART: McKinsey survey shows 50% who shopped exchanges and did not purchase cited affordability as the reason. pic.twitter.com/SqJMvqciL3 — Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) March 6, 2014


And as a final indignity, Gallup is out with new polling on Obamacare. Fox News' national survey released last night showed Obama's approval rating on healthcare underwater by 23 points, with 57 percent of Americans saying that his administration has failed to improve America's healthcare system. Gallup asks different questions, but the results are just as ugly. Approval of Obamacare remains terrible (40/55) with more than twice as many Americans saying the law has hurt their family's situation (23 percent) than helped it (10 percent). And this speaks for itself:



Obamacare is failing to insure the uninsured, driving Americans' healthcare costs up, and hurting twice as many people as it's helping. How many voters would agree with the president's assessment that this law is "working the way it should"?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: 0bamacare; obama; obamacare; obamalies
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To: jsanders2001

Revolt is coming.


21 posted on 03/07/2014 8:06:04 AM PST by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: Starboard
Renewed hope that this monstrosity will collapse under its own weight.

I'm of the opinion it was never meant to succeed - single payer inbound. (I hope I'm wrong mind you).

22 posted on 03/07/2014 8:09:34 AM PST by mykroar (We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again. - Nathanael Greene)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

- They are both aging fast in that photograph

- Money and Power cannot buy a new or different face…...


23 posted on 03/07/2014 8:11:55 AM PST by devolve (- Tell Vladimir after my erection I have more FLEXIBILITY -- I need more SPACE - BHO Jr -)
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To: Biggirl

Its already here but in the shadows


24 posted on 03/07/2014 8:14:29 AM PST by jsanders2001
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To: jsanders2001

Rather it has started with upcoming plans from what I have read, about a big gathering on May 16, 2014, called “Operation American Spring” in Washington D.C.


25 posted on 03/07/2014 8:16:14 AM PST by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

They thought it was going to be free.


26 posted on 03/07/2014 8:18:08 AM PST by Rusty0604
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To: mikelets456
Name one dictator that really cared about public opinion...

Mussolini--at the very end. /S

27 posted on 03/07/2014 8:18:24 AM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Jim Robinson

I think this sad a lot:

Prop. 4 - Republican - Testing Before Receiving Welfare 
In Favor 95% (X)
Against 5%

Prop. 5 - Republican - Elected Officials Subject to Same Laws as Constituents 
In Favor 99% (X)
Against 1%

Prop. 6 - Republican - Repeal the Affordable Care Act 
In Favor 93% (X)
Against


28 posted on 03/07/2014 8:19:21 AM PST by jsanders2001
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To: jsanders2001

I think the election results said a lot about how The Prople feel:

Prop. 4 - Republican - Testing Before Receiving Welfare 
In Favor 95% (X)
Against 5%

Prop. 5 - Republican - Elected Officials Subject to Same Laws as Constituents 
In Favor 99% (X)
Against 1%

Prop. 6 - Republican - Repeal the Affordable Care Act 
In Favor 93% (X)
Against


29 posted on 03/07/2014 8:20:22 AM PST by jsanders2001
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To: Kaslin

The infuriating this is that Obamacare is doing EXACTLY what it was designed to do: increase costs and drive insurance companies out of business and sweep in socialized medicine.


30 posted on 03/07/2014 8:20:44 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Haven't you lost enough freedoms? Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

I’d love to see those two (and others) in prison and waterboarded.


31 posted on 03/07/2014 8:22:36 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: OrangeHoof
It is “working the way it should” because it was intended to fail.

If Obamacare worked in a vaccuum, I would agree. But this is translating into a loss of votes for the democrats. Even Hillary Clinton is distancing herself from Obamacare.

32 posted on 03/07/2014 8:23:39 AM PST by kidd
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To: Pearls Before Swine
Mussolini--at the very end. /S

Heh.


33 posted on 03/07/2014 8:23:52 AM PST by Paine in the Neck (Socialism consumes EVERYTHING)
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To: Biggirl

> Rather it has started with upcoming plans from what I have read, about a big gathering on May 16, 2014, called “Operation American Spring” in Washington D.C.

And of course 0 can’t wait to roll his brown shirt army out in full assault gear WITH automatic assault weapons, APC’s, microwave skin fryers, roof top snipers, and drones at the ready but won’t he be surprised when they wheel around to face him?


34 posted on 03/07/2014 8:26:11 AM PST by jsanders2001
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To: mykroar

The financial underpinnings of Obamacare do not make sense. The math doesn’t work. The structure will collapse, IF Republicans don’t step in and try to salvage it. They don’t call it the Stupid Party for nothing.


35 posted on 03/07/2014 8:28:39 AM PST by Starboard
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To: Biggirl
Obama KNOWS more Americans are turning against him, in their own quiet way.

Until the Americans turning against him, not so quietly, are the ones sitting on Capitol Hill, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference.

36 posted on 03/07/2014 8:29:16 AM PST by workerbee (The President of the United States is DOMESTIC ENEMY #1!)
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To: jsanders2001

Have you been listening to WAY TOO MUCH Alex Jones lately. LOL!


37 posted on 03/07/2014 8:29:25 AM PST by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: kidd

> It is “working the way it should” because it was intended to fail.
If Obamacare worked in a vaccuum, I would agree. But this is translating into a loss of votes for the democrats. Even Hillary Clinton is distancing herself from Obamacare.

Let us not forget Benghazi and the fact she and her husband were pushing the very same type of healthcare program but it wouldn’t take hold because of their skin color. There’s so much more than that though.


38 posted on 03/07/2014 8:29:47 AM PST by jsanders2001
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To: workerbee

Keep a close eye on the polls. They are telling.


39 posted on 03/07/2014 8:30:15 AM PST by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: Biggirl

a big gathering on May 16, 2014, called “Operation American Spring” in Washington D.C.

**********
I can’t wait for this. Its the moment we’ve been waiting for. Let’s get it on!


40 posted on 03/07/2014 8:32:00 AM PST by Starboard
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