Source: Human Events
1. Emergency Room Volume to Go Up, not Down: Remember how Obamacare was going to reduce wait time in emergency rooms? Millions of previously uninsured Americans accustomed to using ERs for basic medical treatment would instead snatch up Obamacare coverage and start getting primary care from regular (and cheaper) medical practices. But, says Rick Dallam, it looks like "it's going to be exactly the opposite over the next four to eight years." In an article in The Hill, Dallam, a partner at a firm that designs healthcare facilities, notes: "We don't have the primary care infrastructure in place in America to cover the need. Our clients are looking at and preparing for more emergency department volume, not less."
2. Small Business's are Hurt, not Helped: One of the great promises of Obamacare was that it would give folks working in small businesses better access to affordable care. Unfortunately, the Obamacare small-business tax credit just doesn't get the job done, according to the National Federation of Independent Business, the nation's largest small-business advocacy group. NFIB reports that provisions aimed at expanding small-business-sponsored coverage will have little real impact-though their cost will be all too real.
3. Jobs Cut, not Expanded: Thanks to Obamacare, low-skilled job seekers will find it even harder to find work. That's the lesson drawn from a new analysis by White Castle, the iconic hamburger chain, which looked at how Obamacare provisions would affect the company's bottom line. Of particular interest were provisions that hit employers with a $3,000 per employee penalty-even if they offer health insurance-for workers whose household income is low enough and they get subsidized health coverage through a government-run insurance exchange. Curiously, the penalty for hiring and offering coverage to a low-income worker is 50% higher than the Obamacare penalty ($2,000 per employee) for NOT offering coverage. The net effect of this weird policy is to discourage businesses from hiring workers from low-income households-those who need jobs most.
4. Harder, not easier, for young people to afford insurance: This week, the White House issued rules for health insurers to extend dependent coverage to "children" up to 26 years old. Beyond keeping the "Big Kids" dependent on Mommy and Daddy, it also directly undercuts the President's famous campaign promise that American families would see a $2,500 reduction in their annual premiums. Now, we learn that family premiums will rise about 1% in 2012 just from this one provision of the new law. It will cost $3,380 for each dependent in 2011, according to this Associated Press report.
5. You can't keep your insurance if you like it: Remember the White House's insistence that, under Obamacare, you keep your insurance plan if you like it? CNN reports that AT&T, Verizon, John Deere and others may well drop the health care coverage they now offer their employees. Obamacare makes it much cheaper for these companies to dump their workers into the government-controlled health exchanges and pay a penalty for NOT insuring them. Congress could have dramatically expanded health insurance without incentivizing employers to end their current healthcare coverage. To learn about far better alternatives (hint: auto enrollment in employer-based insurance and a universal tax credit system, for starters), go here.
6. Entitlement Crisis worse, not better, as a result of new health care law: On the stump, Candidate Obama identified government entitlement spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security as the largest contributor to the federal deficit. Unfortunately, the President's healthcare law will only exacerbate the entitlement crisis. While Obamacare seeks some cost-savings (witness its ham-fisted treatment of popular Medicare Advantage plans), it does nothing to reform the overall structure of the Medicare entitlement. While the new law carves out $529 billion in Medicare "savings," it calls for using those funds-and trillions more-to bankroll even more expansive health care entitlements. According to the National Center for Policy Analysis : "Instead of fixing the health care programs for seniors and those who cannot afford insurance, this law cuts Medicare and adds more people to the failing Medicaid system." Many seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage will not be able to keep the plans they like.
7. Federal cost will increase, not decease: The actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that runs the giant entitlement programs, just released their analysis of the new health care law. The AP reports that "White House officials have repeatedly complained that such analyses have been too pessimistic and lowball the law's potential to achieve savings," but the official CMS analysis reinforces several of Heritage's predictions regarding Obamacare. CMS reports that under new law, overall national health expenditures will increase by $311 billion.
8. Expect Longer Waits for Health Care: Patience will be more than a virtue, under Obamacare. It'll be a necessity. A recent article from ABC News outlines why Americans can expect longer waits before they see a doctor. One reason is that there just won't be enough doctors to get the job done. ABC reports that 10 years from now, the United States will short 85,000 primary care and high-demand specialty physicians. Says Dr. Kevin Pho, an internal medicine physician in New Hampshire, "I don't think we have the primary care capacity to meet the influx of 35 million newly insured."
9. No Promised Coverage for Kids: Major flaws in the gargantuan Obamacare bill started to emerge almost immediately after it was signed into law. One of the most embarrassing: failure to ensure immediate coverage for kids with pre-existing conditions-something Obamacare supporters had constantly promised was part of the bill.
10. The American people have increased hatred of new law: The repeal message on ObamaCare is picking up steam and the American people have not been convinced by Washington insiders that federally run healthcare is a good idea. Rasmussen reports that the repeal movement is growing. "Support for repeal of the new national health care plan has jumped to its highest level ever. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of U.S. voters now favor repeal of the plan passed by congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Obama in March.