THE ACA CON: IT’S ACTUALLY THE AVOIDABLE CARE ACT
Turns out, Obama’s signature legislation is really the ACA Con, a joke, a fraud. There have been so many delays and exemptions, the law has become the Avoidable Care Act. For those who prefer to run their own lives, Obamacare is the best thing to come down the liberal pike in quite some time. Much ado about not very much except, of course, cost. That’s huge.
Obama’s pride and joy may look like the biggest government power grab in our domestic history, but it’s been a flop. Through the first of March 4.2 million have supposedly signed up. But, 20% of those are beingbounced for failure to pay their first premiums. As bad, only 25% of enrollees are in the coveted 18 – 34 age group. 83% of the sign ups were already receiving financial assistance.
Potentially more disastrous, observers believe that the President’s latest exception to the ACA individual mandate effectively ends the mandate completely. Individuals who don’t sign up can claim a “hardship” exemption, meaning they pay no penalty, if they experienced a hardship in attempting to sign up.
The “hardship” encountered in attempting to sign up is not defined. Economist and former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin opined that almost any excuse qualifies. He listed examples such as difficulties on the Obamacare website, the ACA plans are just too expensive or they don’t cover a particular affliction. The end of the individual mandate spells much higher premiums for those who have signed up.
With most of the country against Obamacare, Republicans are using it as a wedge issue to separate Dems from their traditional voting blocs. In the first such test just this week, the GOP candidate prevailed in a congressional special election in Florida. Not a good omen for Democrats. Even the revelation during the campaign that the Republican victor killed a pedestrian 25 years ago did not tip the scale.
Worse politically, Obama won the district in both 2008 and 2012. And the Dem candidate outspent the victor by more than 3 to 1 in television advertising. The district is split almost evenly between Democrat and Republican voters with a large percentage of Independents.
The mid-term elections in the fall will be more of a test of the electorate’s degree of consciousness than the ACA Con. The book is written on the monumental failure of Obamacare to accomplish anything other than enormous cost overruns. The only question is whether voters are aware of it. A wide awake electorate should put the Avoidable Care Act in a deep and permanent sleep.