Despite the fact that we’ve had Barry’s many minions, both in government and in the state-controlled media, calling Obamacare's enrollment numbers an overwhelming success, and despite a multi-million dollar, taxpayer funded, ad campaign, a never-ending stream of outrageous lies having been told, or the fact that, supposedly, there have been more than 8 million sign-ups reported through the April 15 deadline, it seems that we still have a majority of the American people who oppose this thing called Obamacare. Because a recent poll seems to show that it’s still less than half of all Americans that actually support it.
This most recent poll to which I refer comes to us from Gallup and it points out that 43 percent of the American people actually claim to support Obamacare, which is the same number that approved of it back in April. And it’s also in this latest poll, that we still have 51 percent of Americans who disapprove of it. The final number of enrollees, which both critics and insurance companies have called into question, and with good reason knowing as we do the tendency of this administration to ‘fudge’ the numbers, was a strong finish for a sign-up process that began with the botched rollout of the Obamacare website last October.
Public approval of this law, which as we all remember the Democrats shoved through Congress, practically in the dark of night and by using every shady political tactic imaginable, in 2010, bottomed out at 38 percent in January as the healthcare.gov website still failed to work as advertised. The new poll numbers show that 37 percent of Americans feel the law will make the healthcare system in the U.S. better, while forty-four percent say it will only serve to make things worse. And in speaking as one of those who has been personally impacted by this disastrous creation of the Democrats’, it’s safe to say that I’m one of those who’s no fan of it.
And as to be expected there is a rather large discrepancy in Americans' approval of the law based on their race as well as their politics. The Gallup poll points that 79 percent of Democrats claim to support the law while just 8 percent of Republicans support it. And 76 percent of blacks approve of the law, while 35 percent of whites do. Hispanics carry a 57 percent approval rating of the law. But I have to wonder, do blacks support it out of some blind devotion to their black president, or do they genuinely think that it will make healthcare better? After all, there is no other group in this country for who race plays such an important role.
So while I may have a very specific, and much more personal, reason than some for being opposed to this bastardized piece of shit, there is no shortage of other reasons why a majority of Americans continue in their opposition to it. And maybe, just maybe, the reason behind how it is that so many people still oppose this outright seizure of our healthcare system by the government, is the fact that Barry & Co. continues to espouse what are eight pervasive "myths" about Obamacare, aka the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Mr. John R. Graham, senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, outlined those myths in a new report released Thursday.
Mr. Graham, said, "The myths peddled by the Administration to sell ObamaCare are not harmless fairy tales. They have resulted in a program that is harming people’s access to health care." He went on to say, "Favorable media coverage of the 8 million people who have enrolled in health insurance via exchanges has allowed the administration and its allies to revive discredited claims about Obamacare’s benefits." But "the numbers touted by the administration disguise the fact that many of these people lost previous coverage in the period prior to open enrollment, and people are no longer free to acquire the health insurance they want," he said.
Myth No. 1: If you like your health plan, you can keep it. The health insurance policies of six million Americans have already been cancelled, and most of the policies purchased in the individual market by another 19 million people do not comply with ACA requirements, Graham pointed out. He also quotes a government memorandum suggesting that nearly all employers with employee health care plans that are currently "grandfathered" in will lose that protection by making even small changes to their coverage. Eventually, nearly all businesses will be forced into more expensive, government-regulated plans, he predicts.
Myth No. 2: If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Many health care plans sold on federal and state exchanges have a limited number of in-network physicians to choose from, Graham says, pointing out that 70 percent of doctors in California are not in their state exchange's network. And with millions of newly insured people seeking care from a dwindling number of physicians, "there is no realistic way to meet this demand."
Myth No. 3: There is an "employer mandate" to offer affordable coverage. Employers who don’t offer health benefits can be fined $2,000 for each employee, which is considerably lower than the cost of providing health insurance. So many employees will stop offering coverage, Graham predicts. The ACA allows self-insured employers to require workers to pay up to 9.5 percent of their annual wages in premiums, he adds, but an employee making $50,000 a year would have to pay $15,000 for family coverage, and employees who declined the coverage would not be eligible for federal subsidies on the exchanges. "Few workers would willingly spend nearly one-third of their take-home pay on health insurance," Graham says.
Myth No. 4: Health reform will lower the cost of health insurance by $2,500 a year for the average family. Graham points out that "because of Obamacare’s mandates and regulations, coverage will be more expensive for everyone outside a small portion of older, low-income adults who can obtain highly subsidized coverage in the exchanges."
Myth No. 5: There is an "individual mandate" that ensures everyone has health coverage. The ACA’s "individual mandate" requires that most legal residents of the U.S. buy a qualifying health insurance policy or pay a fine. However, "the individual mandate was effectively deferred until at least 2016 when the Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services allowed people to decide for themselves if they qualify for a ‘hardship exemption’," Graham writes, "to reduce the liability of fining people before the November 2016 election." Since there is a congressional election every two years, he adds, "the individual mandate is highly unlikely ever to be imposed."
Myth No. 6: Individuals cannot be denied individual coverage due to pre-existing conditions. "This was only true if they applied for Obamacare coverage before March 31, 2014," Graham writes. "If they missed that deadline, they cannot get coverage at all until November 15, 2014, unless they experience a life-qualifying event, such as getting married or having a child. In the individual market, prior to Obamacare, people could apply whenever they wanted to."
Myth No. 7: Health insurers no longer can cancel a policy after an insured individual gets sick. "Before Obamacare, a health insurer could only rescind a policy if the insured had misrepresented her health status on her application," Graham says. "On the contrary, Obamacare has caused many cancellations." And despite the fact that "nearly three-fourths of states agreed to allow insurers to reinstate canceled health plans…it appears that most insurers were not able to do so."
Myth No. 8: Medicare has been strengthened. "In general, the Medicare spending cuts exceed the new benefits by a factor of more than 10 to 1," Graham points out. "As a result, one of every two people expected to participate in Medicare Advantage over the next 10 years (7.5 million of 14 million) will lose their coverage entirely." To make matters worse, "Medicare’s chief actuary believes the planned cuts in fees may cause some doctors to retire and force some hospitals out of business" just as demand for health care increases. "The real costs of Obamacare will continue to burden Americans, despite the apparent success of the first open enrollment," Graham concluded.
So there you have it. If you’re still looking for a reason to stand against this massive abuse of power by the Barry & Co., simply pick one. And let’s be real here, there is nothing about this supposed act of ‘reform’ that has absolutely anything do with any of the numerous claims that were made, and continue to be made about it. What this is all about is control, pure and simple. And what we will all be forced into dealing with, if unable to convince those on our side to get rid of it, is a healthcare system that is on the same level as the system that our veterans are currently being forced to contend with. Because that is how socialized medicine works.
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