Time to End the Obama Care Fiasco, Once and For All!

By the end of this year, millions of Americans are once again staring down the possibility of losing their health coverage if nothing is done. The subsidies propping up the current system are set to expire, and extending them yet again would simply kick the can down the road.

That’s the kind of Washington habit our current president has never been fond of. He prefers solving problems, not postponing them.

For many families, the Affordable Care Act or “Obama Care”, was sold as a path to cheaper, more stable healthcare. We were promised that costs would go down and that we could keep our current healthcare plans. None of this was true! Prior to this fiasco, my health insurance for myself and my two children was about $350 a month. After Obama Care was implemented, because I was self employed and not part of a group, my insurance coverage ballooned to $2100 a month for me and my two children. By the end of 2013, more than seven million people lost their healthcare coverage.

Now the Democrats want to extend this failing program which has done nothing but enrich the top five medical insurers by giving them over 200 billion in tax payer subsidies every year and caused massive amounts of fraud in the system. Once again, it’s the hardworking families, not the bureaucrats, not the lobbyists, not the insurance giants , who get stuck holding the bag.

President Trump, please fix this!

Here is a list of the broken Obama Care promises:

Promise: The ACA would help cut the deficit, including its student loan provisions.

Result: The ACA has significantly added to the federal debt including costly student loan losses.

Promise: The ACA would “bend the cost curve,” saving $2,500 per family.

Result: Individual market premiums nearly doubled from 2013 to 2017. The primary ACA provision for bending the curve, the “Cadillac tax,” never went into effect.

Promise: The ACA would save lives.

Result: Life expectancy fell three consecutive years for the first time in nearly 100 years.

Promise: The ACA would be a program only for U.S. citizens.

Result: By 2024, many unauthorized immigrants would be enrolled in subsidized ACA plans. California will spend 8.4 Billion this year for medical coverage for non citizens

Promise: The ACA would take the stress out of shopping for health insurance.

Result: The ACA portal was one of the most notoriously unreliable websites ever launched.

Promise: Penalties on employers that fail to provide coverage would provide massive revenue.

Result: Actual collections are less than 5 percent of what was projected.

Promise: The ACA would increase economic growth.

Result: The ACA resulted in smaller businesses, fewer full-time jobs, and significant disincentives to work.

Promise: Medicaid would be an efficient way to increase coverage.

Result: The ACA’s Medicaid expansion is far more expensive than projected.

Promise: If you liked your plan and doctor, you would be able to keep them.

Result: Millions of people, including my family, had their plans canceled and lost access to their doctors.

Promise: The individual market would become a competitive, robust marketplace.

Result: Enrollment was less than half of expectations, with higher premiums and deductibles and more restrictive provider networks than expected through 2020.

Promise: The ACA would decrease emergency department use as newly insured individuals would finally have a normal place of care.

Result: The ACA, particularly Medicaid expansion, caused emergency room use to soar, particularly for non-emergency services.

Promise: The ACA would end abuses by health insurance companies.

Result: The ACA has been a gift for health insurers with its massive government subsidies.

Let’s urge our political leaders not to throw more money at this by extending the current program. It’s time to fix this fiasco once and for all. American families first!

Carol Pefley Candidate for Ca State Assembly