Obamacare: The Promise vs. The Reality...And Then Some

The Promise                                                    The Reality

Health care premiums will                               Cost of premiums may double         
go down by 2500/yr/family                               or more

Everyone will be insured                                  There will be 26 million people
                                                                          uninsured

You can keep your health plan                        You may not be able to keep your
 if you like it                                                      insurance plan. Those policies
                                                                         that don't meet the new standards
                                                                         may be discontinued

There will not be rationing of                           There will be rationing of care
health care                                                       determined by an unelected
                                                                         board of bureaucrats
                                                                         (aka 'death panels')

Obamacare won't increase                              Deficit will increase by
deficit                                                               $6.2 trillion

You can keep your doctor                                83% doctors are considering
                                                                         leaving field after court
                                                                         upheld Obamacare. Besides
                                                                         this stat, there'll be a shortage
                                                                         of 90,000 doctors by 2020

Obamacare will create jobs                             Thanks to Obamacare,
                                                                         retailers are cutting
                                                                         workers' hours from full
                                                                         time to part time to avoid
                                                                         punitive fines

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2013/06/04/5-lies-the-democrats-told-to-sell-obamacare-n1612356/page/full
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/06/07/obamacare-leaves-millions-uninsured-heres-who-they-are/

According to new statistics, among small businesses, 41% have stopped hiring new employees and 19% have reduced the number of staff. This is due to the fact that they don’t know what impact Obamacare will have on their business. http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/obamacare-small-business/

"Retailers are cutting worker hours at a rate not seen in more than three decades — a sudden shift that can only be explained by the onset of ObamaCare's employer mandates." http://news.investors.com/economy/050313-654674-retail-workweek-3-year-low-on-obamacare.htm

Some of the enormous potential costs: "To try to keep premiums low, some states are allowing insurers to charge patients a hefty share of the cost for expensive medications used to treat cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other life-altering chronic diseases.

Such “specialty drugs” can cost thousands of dollars a month, and in California, patients would pay up to 30 percent of the cost. For one widely used cancer drug, Gleevec, the patient could pay more than $2,000 for a month’s supply, says the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society."  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/13/ap-cancer-ms-patients-may-face-outrageous-costs-under-obamacare/

"Medicare’s Part A trust fund is projected to be insolvent by 2026 and the total program has a long-term unfunded obligation of more than $35 trillion. This means the government has made $35 trillion worth of benefit promises to current and future seniors that are not yet paid for — a staggering amount that is more than double the nation’s total current debt.  According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Obamacare will reduce Medicare reimbursements by $716 billion over 10 years. These cuts will hit Part A providers such as hospitals, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and hospices, along with Medicare Advantage plans."  http://savingourfuture.com/2013/06/morning-bell-obamacares-negative-impact-on-seniors/

The White House has given new authority to the IRS when it comes to Obamacare. They will now be in charge of enforcing the new taxes and regulations associated with Obamacare; all 2800 pages of new law, and 13,000 new regulations; 16,000 new IRS agents have been hired to oversee these.  And with the recent discovery that the IRS has been specifically targeting conservatives for political beliefs, they will now be in charge of everyone's private and sensitive medical information. http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/28/let-the-irs-implement-obamacare-are-we-nuts/

Regarding the privacy issues, according to the Wall Street Journal, “To monitor compliance with these rules [i.e., Obamacare], the IRS and HHS are now building the largest personal information database the government has ever attempted. Known as the Federal Data Services Hub, the project is taking the IRS’s own records (for income and employment status) and centralizing them with information from Social Security (identity), Homeland Security (citizenship), Justice (criminal history), HHS (enrollment in entitlement programs and certain medical claims data) and state governments (residency).”  http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/28/let-the-irs-implement-obamacare-are-we-nuts/

And let's not forget that the official in charge of the unit at the IRS which targeted the conservative groups, will be overseeing the Obamacare unit. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/17/second-irs-official-to-leave-amid-tea-party-scandal/