The number of promises made by candidate Barack Obama and then broken by President Barack Obama is only surpassed by the promises made and broken by President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats, so cataloging all of them would require a book, not a column. But cataloging them is important, so I’ll take a look at the ones that will most greatly impact our lives and wallets. Well, our money is long since gone, so our grandchildren’s wallets.
Right before our very eyes, we are seeing the implosion of the president’s health care reform bill, leaving one to wonder how long its defenders will continue to support the mess they have created. Let’s take a look at some recent developments:
Bigger Deficits: President Obama promised the American people that his trillion-dollar health care proposal would not add one penny to the deficit. It took a shell game to get the CBO to go along. The plan taxes the American people for five years and the so-called “benefits” do not take effect until year six. None the less, a recent article by ex-CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin makes clear that a more comprehensive and realistic projection suggests that the new reform law will raise the deficit by more than $500 billion during the first ten years and by nearly $1.5 trillion in the following decade.
Premium Increases: One of the central promises President Obama made during the presidential campaign was that he would “sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of [his] first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.” This has already been proven false. According to the Wall Street Journal:
Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats’ efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections. Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1 percent and 9 percent to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.
The New York Post reported just last week:
ObamaCare’s a painful shot in the wallet. A Greenwich Village resident was socked with an eye-popping 25 percent increase in health premiums — and his insurance company is slapping part of the blame on President Obama’s health-care overhaul that took effect yesterday. Doug Gowland’s monthly bill will jump $140 — from $565 to $705 — under the hike, according to a letter he received from insurer EmblemHealth. And the annual cost for the self-insured 62-year-old man’s mostly bare-bones plan will increase $1,680 — from $6,780 to $8,460.
The administration’s response to insurers who announced they would be forced to hike premiums because of the health care bill? A threat from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to keep their mouths shut or suffer financial consequences.
Lost Coverage: ObamaCare mandates that insurers allow parents to carry their kids on their policies until their kids turn 26, so insurers have stopped writing new policies for children. “Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said in his state UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield have stopped issuing new policies that cover children individually. Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland said a couple of local insurers in her state have done likewise,” AP reported. The Wall Street Journal reports that Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., WellPoint Inc., Humana Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s Golden Rule subsidiary say they will no longer sell new child-only policies. ObamaCare means less coverage, not more. Children aren’t the only ones who will lose their health coverage — McDonald’s has announced that without a waiver, it will drop coverage for its worker’s, as well.
Rationing: There has been much discussion about an attempt by the Food and Drug Administration to change approval standards on life-extending cancer drugs, opening the door to cost being a factor in the approval process. If breast cancer patients are denied coverage for Avastin, patients will be denied insurance for other drugs as well. A decision is expected after the November elections but polls show swing voting seniors and women are paying attention now.
The midterm elections have become, in part, a referendum on the president’s broken promises. Those broken promises are most pronounced when it comes to ObamaCare and its consequences. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, and it wasn’t the tip that sank the Titanic. Americans are busy people and don’t have time to follow every single thing happening in Washington, but when so much is said that is the opposite of reality, even the most passive observer picks up on the discrepancies. Is there any wonder why so many Democrats won’t be coming back to Washington?
Derek Hunter is a Washington based writer and consultant. He can be stalked on Twitter @derekahunter