The Truth about Obamacare Keeps Coming Forward
From the Manchester Union Leader last week came word of an interesting development. In a debate, former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, who looks to regain her seat this fall, admitted that Obamacare – which she voted for two years ago – WON’T reduce health costs:
Shea-Porter said the Obama health care plan will slow the increase in health care costs, but no one should expect them to drop. “Everyone knows that costs go up. For him [Rep. Frank Guinta] to say health care costs should drop when nothing else ever drops, it’s just not accurate,” Shea-Porter said.
But Guinta said Congress should try to reduce health care costs. “I’ve yet to hear anyone say ‘Thank goodness for the Affordable Care Act because it slowed my (premium) increase,’” he said.
And the reason Rep. Guinta has yet to hear anyone say Obamacare has cut their premium increases is because the law hasn’t fulfilled its promise. Even fact-checkers have admitted this reality, when Politifact last month officially declared candidate Obama’s promise to “cut the cost of a typical family’s health insurance premium by $2,500 a year” a broken promise.
In assessing this promise, we consider the following: An author of the $2,500 figure has disavowed its use as it relates to premiums alone. An independent health care analyst projects that premiums will go up for the typical family. The federal agency implementing the Affordable Care Act did not provide evidence that premiums will go down for the typical family. We rate this a Promise Broken.
The fact that Democrats – and even President Obama’s own Administration – acknowledge that the law won’t meet the President’s stated promise is yet another way that the promise of “hope and change” has evaporated for families struggling to pay their insurance bills.