Free Republic

Thanks to President Donald Trump’s slashes to the federal government’s Obamacare advertising budget and his administration’s “sabotage” of Obamacare, hundreds of thousands of clueless people have been left in the dark and aren’t enrolling in Obamacare—at least, that’s what countless reporters and pundits would have you believe. However, the truth is this issue is far more complex that what many on the Left suggest.There’s no doubt that 2019 Obamacare enrollment has dropped compared to enrollment figures from one year ago. The Associated Press reports enrollment in the federal Obamacare exchange—the health insurance exchange used by 39 states—has fallen by nearly 20...

The Trump administration has reportedly killed media ads designed to encourage people to enroll in insurance coverage through the federal Obamacare marketplace before next Tuesday's open-enrollment deadline. The former CEO of that marketplace, HealthCare.gov, called the move an "outrageous decision" to "sabotage open enrollment" in Obamacare. The White House also has ended other outreach efforts to spur sign-ups on the HealthCare.gov marketplace, according to Politico, which broke the story Thursday.

When the Affordable Care Act open enrollment period begins next week, customers will see some changes, including fewer choices and higher prices. In Pennsylvania, the number of insurers in the marketplace has gone from 13 to eight. In Philadelphia, just two insurers are left and premiums are expected to rise 53 percent.Aviva Aron-Dine of Health and Human Services says the size of the hike reflects artificially low rates early on. Pennsylvania had among the lowest rates in the nation. …

Potential complications await consumers as President Barack Obama’s health care law approaches its second open enrollment season, just two months away. Don’t expect a repeat of last year’s website meltdown, but the new sign-up period could expose underlying problems with the law itself that are less easily fixed than a computer system. Getting those who signed up this year enrolled again for 2015 won’t be as easy as it might seem. And the law’s interaction between insurance and taxes looks like a sure-fire formula for confusion. …

The Obama administration, along with their pelosireidian enablers in the United States Congress, gave a great deal of thought to the timing of various events in the Obamacare process. They passed it through the House when the American public was distracted by the massacre at Fort Hood… they passed it through the Senate when the nation was distracted by Christmas Eve celebrations… they designed it so that the taxes would begin to be collected immediately, but the benefits wouldn’t start for four years, so they could pretend to stretch ten years of taxes to fund six years of benefits. Of...