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Heritage
Foundation
9
Obamacare Predictions That Have Come True
Robert
Moffit
May
5, 2014
It
directly affects the personal life of every American, and it controls
or regulates a complex sector of the American economy that is
slightly larger than the entire economy of France.
If
you guessed Obamacare, you’ve been paying attention for the past
four years.
Four
years ago, many health policy analysts, including those at The
Heritage Foundation, predicted some of the effects this law would
have on Americans. These are all coming true. Here are nine of our
predictions that have come to pass—and it’s not over yet.
1.
The individual mandate is an enforcement nightmare.
As a
candidate, President Obama worried that an individual mandate to buy
insurance would be unenforceable. He changed his mind once he became
president. This year—the first year that the mandate penalties are
to be imposed—he has already started backtracking on the
enforcement of the provision he signed into law.
2.
The law will create new disincentives to work.
Between
Obamacare’s higher taxes and its subsidies that drop off if you
raise your income, there’s not a lot of incentive here to work
harder and better your situation.
3.
The law, particularly the employer mandate, will impose new costs on
businesses that undercut jobs and wages.
The
employer mandate has been delayed until 2015, but the uncertainty
Obamacare has created—and its 18 new tax hikes—have put a huge
dent in job creation.
4.
The law undermines competition and further consolidates health
insurance markets.
Heritage
Foundation analysis of federal and state exchanges shows that the law
has, in general, reduced competition and consolidated health
insurance markets. Between 2013 and 2014, the number of insurers
offering coverage on the individual markets in all 50 states has
declined nationwide by 29 percent.
5.
The law guarantees major premium increases.
As
Heritage predicted, the average annual premiums for single and family
coverage in 2014 are rising in the state and federal health insurance
exchanges all around the country. In 11 states, premiums for
27-year-olds have more than doubled since 2013; in 13 states,
premiums for 50-year-olds have increased more than 50 percent.
6.
The law discourages insurance enrollment among the young.
The
law’s insurance rules and new benefit mandates will make it cheaper
for many younger Americans simply to remain uninsured and pay the
penalty fine. It’s not surprising that young people have been
staying away.
7.
The law’s Medicare savings would not financially strengthen
Medicare.
The
law’s proponents originally promised that “savings” from
Medicare changes would be spent simultaneously in two places: helping
Medicare and expanding Obamacare. But money can be spent only once,
so that didn’t work.
8.
The law’s Medicare changes will result in reduced benefits and
threaten seniors’ access to care.
The
law’s impact is fairly straightforward: Fewer Medicare providers,
reimbursed at rates progressively reduced over time, will create
access problems for patients. Medicare cuts have been underway for
several years now.
9.
The law compels taxpayers to fund abortion and weakens protections of
the right of conscience.
Obamacare
mandates health plans that include coverage of abortion. It also
spawned the Health and Human Services regulatory mandate that forces
American employers to provide coverage for abortion-inducing drugs.
It is safe to say that four years ago, millions of Americans did not
expect that the national health care law would become a vehicle for
an aggressive government infringement of personal liberty or coerce
Americans to fund medical procedures and drugs in direct violation of
their ethical and religious convictions.
Is it
any wonder public opinion is against this debacle? It’s unfair,
unworkable, and unaffordable. We need real health reform that puts
patients back at the center and increases choice for Americans.
Read
this and other articles with links and photos at Heritage Foundation
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