Op-Ed

The President is wrong: ObamaCare harms our generation

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This Thursday, September 23rd, is the six-month anniversary of the passage of the ObamaCare travesty. To mark the occasion, the liberal organization PIRG is distributing to college students a propaganda letter from President Barack Obama proclaiming that our generation will benefit enormously from the law. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

First the President writes that “under the new law, you can remain on your parents’ health insurance plan until you turn 26 or find a job that offers insurance.” Although on the surface this may seem to be a benefit, in reality it reduces the incentives for our generation to be independent and cultivate the vital virtue of individual responsibility that is necessary for our long-term success.

The President fails to even consider that the new costs associated with the extended coverage will have to be passed on and will most likely fall on the shoulders of our parents’ employers. Because of this additional burden, businesses will have less capital to use to expand and create the jobs desperately needed by our generation at a time when over 20 percent of our peers are unemployed and unable to find work.

The President also argues that ObamaCare “makes it illegal for new health insurance plans to charge you a deductible or other fees for important preventive services.” However, as basic economics dictates, there is no free lunch and thus our generation will pay for these services someway, somehow. Certainly the President is aware of this economic reality. Unfortunately, he had the audacity to intentionally ignore it in order to dishonestly gain our generation’s support. While insurance companies may now be prevented from billing you directly for preventative care, they will have to charge you for these services through higher premiums or reduced benefits elsewhere.

Finally, the President misguidedly proclaims as a benefit the law’s prohibition of insurance with “lifetime limits on care.” Every American would prefer unlimited lifetime coverage, but many businesses, particularly smaller ones, simply cannot afford to provide such insurance and instead choose to offer their employees more limited plans that they can afford.

With ObamaCare’s ban on such plans, many small businesses will be forced to stop providing health insurance to their employees entirely. This inevitable result will disproportionately affect members of our generation, who account for a disproportionately large share of the part-time work force and are therefore disproportionate beneficiaries of limited insurance plans.

Given the above, today’s new provisions should not be a cause for celebration, but rather should reaffirm our commitment to de-fund, repeal, and replace ObamaCare with bipartisan reforms that will help, not harm, our generation.

Alex Cortes is a 4th year at the University of Virginia and Chairman of DeFundIt.org and Jordan Marks is the Executive Director of Young Americans for Freedom.