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After We’ve Had Two Years to “Find Out What’s in It,” the Democrats’ Health Care Law Keeps Looking Worse and Worse

March 23, 2012 — The Prescription Pad   

Today marks the two-year anniversary of when President Obama signed the Democrats’ health care bill into law.  Because the law was drafted in secret behind closed doors, it wasn’t entirely clear how the American people would fare under the new law.  However, now that we’ve had two years to “find out what’s in it,” the picture isn’t pretty.  As the list below shows, by almost any measure, Americans are worse off under the Democrats’ health care law.  That is why more than half of all Americans now favor its repeal.

HIGHER COSTS:

  • According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Democrats’ health care law will now cost $1.8 trillion, twice as much as they said it would when President Obama signed it into law in 2010.
  • In President Obama’s FY 2013 budget proposal, the estimated cost of health insurance subsidies in the Democrats’ health law increased by $111 billion when compared to the President’s FY 2012 budget proposal.  To date, the Administration is unable to provide an adequate explanation for this massive increase.
  • Health care costs for consumers and health care spending overall will increase drastically as a result of the Democrats’ health care law. 
  • Health care premiums will continue to go up, not down, despite President Obama’s promise to reduce health care premiums by $2,500.  A Kaiser Family Foundation report found that health care premiums in the workplace increased 9 percent, or over $1,200, for an average American family in the year following enactment of the Democrats’ health care law.  Further, the non-partisan CBO estimates that health insurance premiums for those individuals without employer sponsored insurance will increase by 13 percent compared to if the law hadn’t been enacted.

BAD FOR WORKERS & EMPLOYERS:

  • Employers are dropping coverage due to the health care law, destroying the ability to “keep the coverage you have and like.”  A report from the McKinsey Group found that more than 50 percent of employers with a high awareness of the law say they will stop offering health coverage. 
  • CBO found that the health care law may hinder job creation.  Additionally, in a 2011 letter to Congress, 200 economists wrote that the law “contains expensive mandates and penalties that create major barriers to stronger job growth.” 
  • Despite promises of lower costs that were repeated over and over by the President and other supporters, 75 percent of small businesses that offer health insurance to their employees do not believe the law will slow the rise in health care costs. 

AMERICANS, ESPECIALLY SENIORS, REJECT OBAMACARE:

  • As a result of the Democrats’ health care law, more than 90 percent of seniors will lose the retiree prescription drug coverage they have and like and see nearly double-digit premium increases. 
  • Americans of all political stripes believe the requirement to purchase government-mandated health insurance even if they can’t afford it, the centerpiece of the Democrats’ health care law, is unconstitutional.  In a recent Gallup poll, 72 percent of Americans said that this provision is unconstitutional, with over 50 percent of Democrats agreeing.  
  • 72 percent of Americans expect the Democrats’ health care law won’t make their family’s health care situation better.

BROKEN PROMISES AND FAILED POLICIES:

  • The Administration withheld critical financial information from the public that proved the so-called CLASS Act was fiscally unsustainable, yet they used the phony $80 billion in “savings” to “pay for” part of their health care overhaul. 
  • The Obama Administration continues to overpromise, overspend and underperform – all at the expense of the taxpayer.  Consider these three examples:
    • The $5 billion high-risk pool program was intended to cover 375,000 people, but has only 45,000 enrollees after almost two years of operation.
    • The Obama Administration handed out more than one-half billion dollars in cut-rate loans, primarily to political allies to form insurance cooperatives, many of whom do not appear eligible under the law.
    • The Administration has already nearly exhausted $5 billion in funds for the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP), which was supposed to be in place through 2014.  By refusing to pay new claims, this is yet another broken promise in the Democrats’ law.  However, the Obama Administration did not miss the opportunity to reward its politically favored friends – unions and state and local governments – which comprised about half of the entities receiving the federal retiree reinsurance subsidies.

 

 

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