Obamacare has been a complete and total failure from day one.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius cancelled the laws government-run long-term care insurance program the CLASS Act last year after she admitted it was financially unsustainable and Congress formally repealed it in Januarys fiscal cliff deal. Enrollment in Obamacares high-risk pools for individuals with pre-existing conditions was so low that that program was also cancelled. The nations best health care providers chosen as models of cost savings have dropped out of Obamacares unworkable Accountable Care Organization program. The tax credits that were meant to help small businesses afford coverage have proved to be so complicated that only 7 percent of the 4.4 million businesses the program was designed to help have claimed the credit. And no one expects the Obama administration to have health insurance exchanges up and working by this years October deadline.
Faced with the inevitable collapse of Obamacare as written health care policy thinkers on both the left and right have begun plotting their next steps.
On the left The Washington Posts Sarah Kliff reports that the very same groups that helped pass Obamacare (e.g. Families USA Americas Health Insurance Plans and the National Coalition on Health Care) have now admitted that while Obamacare did give health insurance to more Americans it did nothing to contain health costs. The new group Partnership for Sustainable Health Care put out a five-pronged proposal of more price- and wage- controls that liberals believe are necessary to lower health spending.
On the right Republicans are debating whether or not to push legislation that would delay further Obamacare implementation until 2016. National Reviews Ramesh Ponnuru outlines the delayers argument: 1) Implementation botched or not will do damage to the health-care system. 2) If delay doesnt pass then Republicans will at least have used the proposal to highlight the laws deficiencies; and they will have done and be seen to have done all they can to protect the public from it. 3) If delay passes on the other hand it will be pretty embarrassing and demoralizing for the Democrats (which means that it probably wouldnt pass). 4) If it passes well also have enacted a serious spending cut: Delaying implementation would save $160 billion over ten years."
Thanks in large part to Obamacare there will be multiple fiscal crisis deadlines on Capitol Hill this summer (the debt limit in August a government shutdown in October) when both the left and right will be able to push their favored Obamacare-failure solutions. Until then expect the internal debate on both sides to continue.
Obamacare has been a complete and total failure from day one.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius cancelled the laws government-run long-term care insurance program the CLASS Act last year after she admitted it was financially unsustainable and Congress formally repealed it in Januarys fiscal cliff deal. Enrollment in Obamacares high-risk pools for individuals with pre-existing conditions was so low that that program was also cancelled. The nations best health care providers chosen as models of cost savings have dropped out of Obamacares unworkable Accountable Care Organization program. The tax credits that were meant to help small businesses afford coverage have proved to be so complicated that only 7 percent of the 4.4 million businesses the program was designed to help have claimed the credit. And no one expects the Obama administration to have health insurance exchanges up and working by this years October deadline.
Faced with the inevitable collapse of Obamacare as written health care policy thinkers on both the left and right have begun plotting their next steps.
On the left The Washington Posts Sarah Kliff reports that the very same groups that helped pass Obamacare (e.g. Families USA Americas Health Insurance Plans and the National Coalition on Health Care) have now admitted that while Obamacare did give health insurance to more Americans it did nothing to contain health costs. The new group Partnership for Sustainable Health Care put out a five-pronged proposal of more price- and wage- controls that liberals believe are necessary to lower health spending.
On the right Republicans are debating whether or not to push legislation that would delay further Obamacare implementation until 2016. National Reviews Ramesh Ponnuru outlines the delayers argument: 1) Implementation botched or not will do damage to the health-care system. 2) If delay doesnt pass then Republicans will at least have used the proposal to highlight the laws deficiencies; and they will have done and be seen to have done all they can to protect the public from it. 3) If delay passes on the other hand it will be pretty embarrassing and demoralizing for the Democrats (which means that it probably wouldnt pass). 4) If it passes well also have enacted a serious spending cut: Delaying implementation would save $160 billion over ten years."
Thanks in large part to Obamacare there will be multiple fiscal crisis deadlines on Capitol Hill this summer (the debt limit in August a government shutdown in October) when both the left and right will be able to push their favored Obamacare-failure solutions. Until then expect the internal debate on both sides to continue.
