Two Tears Later -
The ObamaCare Lies Continue
IBDEditorials.com
The Obama Record: Little noticed in the president's remarks attacking the Supreme Court last week were two whoppers he told about ObamaCare. Then again, since that reform was built on untruths, why should he stop now?
At that press event, Obama told any justice thinking of overturning ObamaCare's central tenet that "in the absence of an individual mandate, you cannot have a mechanism to ensure that people with pre-existing conditions can actually get health care."
But this is false.
In fact, Obama himself argued precisely the opposite during the 2008 campaign, saying a mandate wasn't needed to achieve universal coverage. "The reason people don't have health insurance isn't because they don't want it," he said then. "It's because they can't afford it."
Plus, ObamaCare itself proves a mandate isn't needed to cover those with pre-existing conditions. The law set up federal "high risk" pools that offer insurance to those denied it by private companies. Yet instead of making this a permanent solution, Obama kills these pools off in 2014 in favor of the mandate.
Obama also claimed at that press conference that the law "was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress."
Also false.
The House approved it by a slim 7-vote margin, with 34 Democrats joining every Republican to oppose it. Less than a year later, the House voted to repeal ObamaCare by a significantly larger margin, 245-189.
It was only in the Senate, where Democrats held a temporary supermajority, that it did well, and even then they could only get it through using a variety of unusual parliamentary tricks. What's more, just 51 Senators voted to keep the law in a 2011 vote.
But as the old saying goes, lies beget more lies. Here's just a sampling of past Obama prevarications about his signature reform law:
"If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what."
Fact: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that as many as 20 million will be forced off their plans as employers dump workers into the government health exchanges to avoid ObamaCare's costs. A survey by McKinsey and Co. found that nearly a third of employers were likely to drop coverage for employees once ObamaCare kicked in.
And an analysis by the Medicare actuary found that ObamaCare's attacks on Medicare's private insurance options would force nearly 8 million seniors out of plans they've chosen.
"If any bill arrives from Congress that is not controlling costs, that's not a bill I can support. It's going to have to control costs."
Fact: The law Obama signed contains no meaningful cost-control provisions, something every honest health care analyst admits.
"We will bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family."
Fact: The CBO projects that premiums over the next decade will climb at a faster rate than they did in the past five years. The CBO also projects that premiums in the individual insurance market will be as much as 13% higher in 2016 as a result of the law. Premiums for small businesses could go up 1%. Meanwhile, a study done for Wisconsin by one of the architects of ObamaCare found that "the majority of individuals in the nongroup market will pay more in premiums for health insurance in 2016 than they do today." The average increase: 30%.
"And it will slow the growth of health care costs for our families, our businesses, and our government."
Fact: ObamaCare will accelerate spending at every level. In 2014, when the law takes full effect, national spending on health care will shoot up 8% and go on climbing at more than 6% a year, according to official government forecasts.
"The plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years."
Fact: The current Congressional Budget Office report pegs the 10-year cost of ObamaCare at $1.7 trillion. The only way Obama could get his price tag down so low is by putting off the start date by four years. Once Obama-Care fully kicks in, it will add $260 billion a year, and rising, to the budget.
"To help ensure that everyone can afford the cost of a health care option in our exchange, we need to provide assistance to families who need it. That way, there will be no reason at all for anyone to remain uninsured."
Fact: Despite spending $800 billion to subsidize premiums in the government-run exchanges, over the next 10 years, along with $931 billion in new Medicaid costs, ObamaCare will still leave 27 million — or 10% of the population — uninsured, according to the CBO.
We could go on, but you get the idea.
The best thing the Supreme Court could do for the country is to chuck the entire law, and give Congress the opportunity to put together an honest package of reforms.