http://www.wnd.com/2013/08/52-shocking-reasons-obamacare-cant-work/
1) Americans may lose their doctors: The president promised, “No matter what you’ve heard, if you like your doctor or health care plan, you can keep them.” However, that promise is not necessarily true, according to his own Department of Human Health and Services. HHS recently posted the answer to this question on Healthcare.gov: “Depending on the plan you choose in the Marketplace, you may be able to keep your current doctor.”
The government explains, “Most health insurance plans offered in the Marketplace have networks of hospitals, doctors, specialists, pharmacies, and other health care providers. Networks include health care providers that the plan contracts with to take care of the plan’s members. Depending on the type of policy you buy, care may be covered only when you get it from a network provider.”
2) Americans may lose their health plans: Obama promised “you can keep your health plan,” but customers with high deductibles are now discovering their insurance plans do not qualify as “government approved” under Obamacare, so they will be required to change plans. A fact-check review by even the left-leaning Politifact.com found Obama’s promise only “half true” and difficult to predict, due to continuing uncertainties in the implementation of Obamacare.
3) Worsening health care: The New York Times reports as many as 75 percent of health plans will be affected by the so-called “Cadillac tax” on what the administration labels high-end plans. A health-care expert warned consumers should expect their plan is going to be more expensive and they will have fewer benefits. The Times predicts those patients can expect to visit clinics instead of doctors for prescriptions or blood-pressure checks; programs, rather than doctors, to manage such chronic conditions as diabetes; and a health screening to determine one’s odds of developing a costly health condition.
4) Higher premiums: Although Obama claimed his program “would save the average family $2,500 on their premiums,” a Wall Street Journal study revealed premiums for healthy people could actually double, or even triple.
5) Higher taxes: The Heritage Foundation found 20 new or increased taxes in Obamacare, including taxes on investment income, Medicare payroll, the individual and employer mandates, insurance companies, insurance plans, innovator drug companies, medical device manufacturers, medical bills, flexible spending accounts for special-needs children, over-the-counter medicines, parts of Medicare D, Blue Cross/Blue Shield deductions and charitable hospitals.
6) Budget deficit increase: The GAO reports Obamacare will increase the long-term federal deficit by $6.2 trillion.
7) Hiring freezes: A Gallup poll found more than 40 percent of small businesses have frozen hiring because of Obamacare.
8) Slashed workers’ hours: A survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found half of small businesses affected by Obamacare plan to either replace their current full-time workers with part-timers or cut their workers’ hours because of the law’s requirements.
9) Killing existing jobs: The same survey found 24 percent of small businesses plan to cut staff to less than 50 to avoid paying penalties for not providing health insurance.
10) Killing new jobs: One-third of employers cited the uncertainty of Obamacare’s costs and regulations as the biggest obstacle to hiring more workers. New taxes could kill tens of thousands of jobs, possibly causing more layoffs. The employer mandate, once implemented, will be a disincentive for businesses to hire more than 49 full-time workers if the businesses can’t pay for health insurance.
11) Jobs already killed: Layoffs at a south-side Chicago hospital, a Wisconsin health care company, a Pennsylvania community college and cities in Ohio and Pennsylvania have already been attributed to Obamacare.
Job seekers line up outside a New York City unemployment office
12) More than 1,200 business waivers: HHS acknowledged issuing businesses more than 1,200 waivers from parts of Obamacare by January 2012. After that, the department stopped updating the total number of waivers because of monthly ridicule from the GOP. Instead, HHS stopped accepting applications for one-year waivers and simply granted or denied waivers through the end of the year.
13) Higher Medicare costs: A Heritage Foundation analysis found Obamacare will force seniors to suffer higher out-of-pocket expenses over the next five years. Payments will be reduced to hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and home health-care agencies.
14) Seniors may lose Medicare: Another Heritage Foundation study determined, “Many seniors will experience a reduction in their Medicare Advantage benefits or even a loss of their existing plan.”
15) Americans reject Obamacare: A CBS News poll found 54 percent of Americans disapprove of the health-care law. More Americans than ever, 39 percent, want it repealed.
16) Fewer insurance companies: Businesses providing health insurance dropped from 59 percent to 52 percent from 2000 to 2011.
17) Fewer insurance choices: Two major health care providers, United Healthcare and Aetna, stopped providing coverage in California because of Obamacare’s requirements.
18) Basic health plan delayed: The administration postponed until after the 2014 election the health program for low-to-moderate income people who don’t qualify for expanded Medicaid.
19) Early retiree program broke: A plan intended to insure early retirees between ages 55 and 65, and their dependents, until government-run exchanges are in place quickly ran out of money. HHS stopped accepting new applications in May 2011. By December 2011, the program had spent its $5 billion budget and stopped paying any claims – two years before it was supposed to end.
20) High-risk pools failing: The administration cut payments to doctors and hospitals before it ran out of money to fund the pre-existing condition insurance plan for people with cancer, heart disease and other serious conditions. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius simply announced “health care facilities and providers will get paid less” for providing the same services.
21) Insurance co-ops failing: The Inspector General for HHS reported most of the 24 health care cop-ops created under Obamacare are in danger of running out of money before they even provide health insurance.
22) Uninsured children: Major health insurance companies, including Anthem Blue Cross and Aetna, decided to stop selling new policies for children rather than comply with the law now forbidding them from rejecting children with pre-existing medical conditions. Insurers say the law could create large and unexpected costs.
23) Union opposition: The leaders of three major U.S. unions (including the Teamsters), which strongly supported Obamacare, now warn Democratic leaders that unless the health-care law undergoes major changes, it will “destroy the very health and well-being of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans.” It will also “destroy the foundation of the 40-hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.”
24) Patients expect worsening care: A Rasmussen poll finds 61 percent of Americans expect health care to get worse under Obamacare over the next two years.
25) Doctors expect worsening care: Many doctors fear they will be unable to continue private practice because of low reimbursement rates from Medicaid and Medicare and will end up working for a corporation hospital where the profits are distributed to shareholders. Doctors fear they will be punished in that system if they spend too much time with a patient or provide too much treatment.
26) Small business plan delayed: The administration delayed implementation of a program designed to provide affordable health insurance to small businesses, a program the New York Times called “a major selling point for the health-care legislation.”
Read more at
52 reasons Obamacare can?t work
