In Town Halls, Democrats Admit Obama’s Broken Promises
The start of this year’s August town hall season has brought important developments on the health care front, as comments at Democrat-hosted events are illustrating how the law falls short of Barack Obama’s campaign promises. For instance, at a meeting yesterday in his district, Tom Perriello admitted that while rising health care costs were the reason to pass the overhaul, “the reforms [in the law] will not, however, start to lower premiums until after all the reforms are implemented” – i.e., after 2014. But candidate Obama promised that he would “save a typical family up to $2,500 on premiums” – and do so “by the end of my first term as President.”
So not only will premiums not fall as promised, they will continue to rise – in fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that individual health insurance premiums will rise by $2,100 MORE than would have occurred had the law not been enacted. And individuals will be forced to buy this more expensive insurance – another broken promise from the campaign, when candidate Obama pointed out that in Massachusetts, the one state with an individual mandate, “there are people who are paying fines and still can’t afford [health insurance], so now they’re worse off than they were. They don’t have health insurance and they’re paying a fine.”
Likewise, at a Ted Deutch town hall event in Florida, a representative from Families USA (invited at the Congressman’s request) talked about Medicare Advantage, and “predicted some plans will shut down” as a result of the law – yet another violation of candidate Obama’s pledge that “you will not have to change plans.”
Thus far the Democrat town halls have educated constituents that premiums will continue to go up, those who can’t afford these skyrocketing costs will be taxed if they don’t pay, and millions of seniors will lose the health coverage they have – and like. Some may wonder: How is this “reform” – and if these are the consequences of the health care law, why did Democrats vote for it in the first place?