Submitted by: Mary Fatzinger
The Lie(s) and Tragedies of Obamacare
Those Republicans who failed to keep their promise to repeal Obamacare, a promise that they repeatedly made over a span of some seven years, will get their comeuppance.
Courtesy of the laborious efforts of some, we can see that these lies are as egregious as they are legion.
In 2008, Obama said that if what would become known as Obamacare ever became the law of the land, then Americans are “going to be able to buy the same kind of insurance that Senator McCain and I enjoy as federal employees.”
This was a lie. Members of Congress are exempt from having to purchase Obamacare. At any rate, no member of Congress uses Obamacare.
Moreover, Obama, as President, had access to the finest healthcare in the world. As was confirmed by the New York Times, an Obama-friendly publication, there isn’t a patient anywhere that “gets closer medical attention than the president of the United States.”
While on the campaign trail back in 2007-2008, Obama assured the public that under his watch as POTUS, he would see to it that, via CSPAN, the process by which healthcare reform is achieved would be entirely transparent.
Instead, Nancy Pelosi infamously told Americans that before they could know what was in the thousands of pages of the Obamacare bill, Democrats would first have to pass it into law.
“If you like your healthcare plan, you’ll be able to keep your healthcare plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.” This is the promise that Obama made as he was trying to sell his signature domestic policy. He had also said: “Here is a guarantee that I’ve made. If you have insurance that you like, then you will be able to keep that insurance.”
These proved to be epic lies.
Following the passage of Obamacare, though, the Congressional Budget Office reported that as many as seven millionpeople would lose their healthcare coverage.
Indeed, from California, New Jersey, Florida, Virginia, and Maryland, to Michigan, Washington D.C., Colorado, and Washington state; from Wegmans, Target, and Home Depot, to Trader Joe’s, IBM, and Universal Orlando, scores of Americans from around the country and employees of various corporations had lost their insurance by early 2014. More have lost it over the last three years.
Obama swore that Obamacare would not add a single “dime to our deficits—either now or in the future.” Upon repeating this pledge, he added:
“And to prove that I’m serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don’t materialize.”
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that between 2012 and 2022, the cost of Obamacare would be twice as expensive as the $900 billion price tag that Obama placed upon it.
Obama promised that premiums would diminish in price under Obamacare. Just the opposite occurred. In all 50 states and the District of Columbia, premiums increased. In 42 states, premiums increased by triple-digit percentages for the lowest priced coverage. For example, pre-Obamacare, the monthly cost for healthcare that a 30 year-old nonsmoking woman paid was $79.49. In the era of Obamacare, in stark contrast, this same person was required to pay $188.72 per month—a 153% increase.
Most tragic, and outrageous, of all is that people who would otherwise be alive today lost their lives because of Obamacare, people like Frank Alfisi. As the Daily Signal summarizes his fate, the 73 year-old died in 2014 when he “was refused dialysis in the emergency room because of a new Medicare regulation put in place via Obamacare.” Jeffrey Lord, of The American Spectator, relays the blunt statement that the physician made to Alfisi’s daughter: “You can thank Mr. Obama for this.”
This wasn’t the only casualty of Obamacare. One woman died while waiting for Obamacare to kick in after her private insurance was cancelled. So too did another in Nevada after Obamacare “delayed” her “life-saving cancer treatment.”
Very recently, on the eve of the Senate’s decision not to repeal Obamacare, a couple committed suicide, leaving two children behind. Their suicide notes stated that, among other things, they could no longer afford the astronomical rate of health insurance.
Yet costs are as high as they are because of the law of the land: Obamacare, a monstrosity born of a tsunami of lies.
How Trump Could Force Congress and Its Staff to Live Under Obamacare
President Donald Trump could have Congress in an uncomfortable corner over the lawmakers’ exemption, and that of their staff, from Obamacare.
Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that he could take away the exemption, granted by the Obama administration’s Office of Personnel Management, to prod Congress toward agreement on getting rid of Obamacare.
The provision provides what critics say is tantamount to an unconstitutional waiver for members of Congress and their staff from rules mandated by the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.
To exempt themselves, the 535 lawmakers and their more than 13,000 staffers are treated as if they were a small business employing fewer than 50 workers.
The exemption policy was created in an OPM directive under President Barack Obama, and could easily be overturned by Trump, said Morris, who worked at the agency during the Reagan administration.
Many critics of Obamacare, including a host of grassroots activists, long have argued that Congress and its staff should have to live under Obamacare like other Americans.
Morris said that applying Obamacare rules to Congress and its staff—as the language of the 2010 law actually requires—could prompt Republican lawmakers to act on their promise to repeal and replace the law. They failed to reach 50 votes to do so in the Senate last week, when three Republicans joined Democrats to scuttle a “skinny repeal” proposal that would have set up a conference with the House.
Such action by Trump, some political observers speculate, could spur Democrats to come to the bargaining table over the fate of Obamacare.
“Congress could feel the pain of most Americans,” Morris said. “It is worth trying. If members of Congress are aggrieved and their staffs are aggrieved, they might be more likely to take action.”
How the Exemption Works
Not a single Republican voted to pass Obamacare. Under a subsection of the Affordable Care Act, Democrats voted Congress out of its own employer-sponsored Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The provision required members and House and Senate staff to enroll in the new health insurance exchanges created for other Americans under the law.
Obamacare subsidies are capped so that no one with income higher than $48,000 gets a subsidy. Members of Congress earn $174,00 annually.
On Aug. 7, 2013, the OPM—which administers the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program—determined that members of Congress and staff still could enroll in the program through the SHOP Exchange, a health insurance exchange set up to provide special insurance subsidies for small businesses in Washington, D.C., with fewer than 50 employees.
Morris co-authored a report for The Heritage Foundation, before the OPM finalized the change, that concluded the Obama administration had no statutory authority to make the rule.
In February 2015, then-Sen. David Vitter, R-La., a member of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, unsuccessfully sought documents pertaining to Congress and the exemption.
But documents that later surfaced reportedly showed administrators asserted Congress had a combined total of 45 employees. Congress itself has 535 members.
As of 2014, there were 4,180 Senate staffers and 9,175 House staffers, according to reports by the Congressional Research Service.
‘He Should Just Do It’
Though controversial, the move survived a legal challenge by Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog group that sued the District of Columbia’s small business insurance exchange on behalf of a city resident. Superior Court Judge Herbert B. Dixon Jr., however, determined the OPM’s action was legal.
Doing away with the exemption for lawmakers and their staffs certainly suits Trump’s campaign pledge to clean up Washington perks and privilege, said Robert Moffit, senior health policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation.
“If you are talking about draining the swamp, this would be a direct assault on the swamp creatures in eliminating what is clearly an illegal insurance subsidy,” Moffit told The Daily Signal, adding:
“I think he should just do it.”—@Heritage’s Robert Moffit“This is one more instance of Congress passing an unpleasant, expensive, onerous law on citizens and then conferring a valuable benefit on itself,” Joe Morris, former general counsel for the Office of Personnel Management, told The Daily Signal.
Over the weekend, Trump tweeted that he could take away the exemption, granted by the Obama administration’s Office of Personnel Management, to prod Congress toward agreement on getting rid of Obamacare.
To exempt themselves, the 535 lawmakers and their more than 13,000 staffers are treated as if they were a small business employing fewer than 50 workers.
If ObamaCare is hurting people, & it is, why shouldn't it hurt the insurance companies & why should Congress not be paying what public pays?
If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!
Many critics of Obamacare, including a host of grassroots activists, long have argued that Congress and its staff should have to live under Obamacare like other Americans.
Morris said that applying Obamacare rules to Congress and its staff—as the language of the 2010 law actually requires—could prompt Republican lawmakers to act on their promise to repeal and replace the law. They failed to reach 50 votes to do so in the Senate last week, when three Republicans joined Democrats to scuttle a “skinny repeal” proposal that would have set up a conference with the House.
Such action by Trump, some political observers speculate, could spur Democrats to come to the bargaining table over the fate of Obamacare.
“Congress could feel the pain of most Americans,” Morris said. “It is worth trying. If members of Congress are aggrieved and their staffs are aggrieved, they might be more likely to take action.”
How the Exemption Works
Not a single Republican voted to pass Obamacare. Under a subsection of the Affordable Care Act, Democrats voted Congress out of its own employer-sponsored Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The provision required members and House and Senate staff to enroll in the new health insurance exchanges created for other Americans under the law.
Obamacare subsidies are capped so that no one with income higher than $48,000 gets a subsidy. Members of Congress earn $174,00 annually.
On Aug. 7, 2013, the OPM—which administers the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program—determined that members of Congress and staff still could enroll in the program through the SHOP Exchange, a health insurance exchange set up to provide special insurance subsidies for small businesses in Washington, D.C., with fewer than 50 employees.
Morris co-authored a report for The Heritage Foundation, before the OPM finalized the change, that concluded the Obama administration had no statutory authority to make the rule.
In February 2015, then-Sen. David Vitter, R-La., a member of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, unsuccessfully sought documents pertaining to Congress and the exemption.
But documents that later surfaced reportedly showed administrators asserted Congress had a combined total of 45 employees. Congress itself has 535 members.
As of 2014, there were 4,180 Senate staffers and 9,175 House staffers, according to reports by the Congressional Research Service.
‘He Should Just Do It’
Though controversial, the move survived a legal challenge by Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog group that sued the District of Columbia’s small business insurance exchange on behalf of a city resident. Superior Court Judge Herbert B. Dixon Jr., however, determined the OPM’s action was legal.
Doing away with the exemption for lawmakers and their staffs certainly suits Trump’s campaign pledge to clean up Washington perks and privilege, said Robert Moffit, senior health policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation.
“If you are talking about draining the swamp, this would be a direct assault on the swamp creatures in eliminating what is clearly an illegal insurance subsidy,” Moffit told The Daily Signal, adding:
I don’t think the president should use this as a threat to get Congress to repeal. I think he should just do it. The funds are not drawn from any statutory authority. Trump could have Congress in a very, very difficult spot.
Fred Lucas
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