5 Years Later And Obama Still Trying To Sell Failed Health Care Law

June 9, 2015

President Obama still trying to sell Democrats’ signature legislation of his presidency, but the law’s negative impact shows why the American public still isn’t buying it.

5 years after Obamacare became the law of the land, President Obama offered many of the same broken promises and falsehoods today addressing the failed health care legislation. With growing costs, millions of Americans losing their plans, and households and business across the country feeling the law’s harmful effects, it’s no surprise that Obamacare is at a record-high of unpopularity.

DESPITE PRESIDENT OBAMA’S PROMISES, OBAMACARE IS HURTING BUSINESSES, ESPECIALLY SMALL BUSINESSES

President Obama, June 9, 2015: Before Obamacare, businesses “saddled… with skyrocketing costs.”

Reality:

  • Washington Post: “Obama administration: Health law’s new rules will increase costs for most small businesses.” “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which has spearheaded the implementation of the law, has acknowledged that new rules requiring insurers to offer guaranteed coverage and renewal options to small employers will likely drive up the price of insurance for some companies.” (J.D. Harrison, “Obama administration: Health law’s new rules will increase costs for most small businesses,” Washington Post, 2/25/2014)
  • Newsmax: “Study: Obamacare Costs Are Crippling Business.” The costs imposed by the ACA, better known as Obamacare, on small business will hurt hiring, employee compensation, and business growth, according to the report by National Center for Policy Analysis Senior Fellow Devon Herrick. (M.D. Kittle, “Study: Obamacare Costs Are Crippling Business,” Newsmax, 6/12/2014)
  • Investor’s Business Daily: “ObamaCare Hits Small Business Hard in Gloomy ’15.” “With businesses’ one-year reprieve from financial penalties under ObamaCare ending, the horror stories of complying with the costly health care law already are trickling in. The worst is yet to come.” (Editorial board, “ObamaCare Hits Small Business Hard in Gloomy ’15,” Investor’s Business Daily, 12/29/14)

OBAMACARE IS CLOSING HOSPITALS, NOT KEEPING THEM OPEN

President Obama, June 9, 2015: Before Obamacare, “hospitals like yours… were scrambling and scratching every single day to try to figure out how do we keep our doors open.”

Reality:

  • Newsmax: “Obamacare Forcing Rural Hospitals to Close. “The Affordable Care act is having a devastating impact on already strapped rural hospitals, playing a role in many of them shutting their doors, The Washington Post reports. Forty-eight rural hospitals have closed since 2010 and 283 are in danger, the Post quotes the National Rural Health Association as saying.” (Gary Richter, “Obamacare Forcing Rural Hospitals to Close,” Newsmax, 3/15/15)

PRESIDENT OBAMA SAYS OBAMACARE ‘WORKING OUT BETTER THAN SOME OF US ANTICIPATED’

President Obama, June 9, 2015: “In a lot of ways, the Affordable Care Act is working out better than some of us anticipated.”

Reality:

Huffington Post: “Obamacare Causing Nearly Half Of Small Businesses To Freeze Hiring: Poll.” Small business owners’ fear of the effect of the new health-care reform law on their bottom line is prompting many to hold off on hiring and even to shed jobs in some cases, a recent poll found. (Dan Mangan, “Obamacare Causing Nearly Half Of Small Businesses To Freeze Hiring: Poll,” Huffington Post, 6/19/2013)

  • Forbes: “Obamacare Will Cost 2.9 Million or More Jobs a Year.” “The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently reported that Obamacare will shrink the economy by the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time (FTE) workers—roughly tripling its earlier estimate of job losses.” (Chris Conover, “Obamacare Will Cost 2.9 Million or More Jobs a Year,” Forbes, 2/24/14)
  • Wall Street Journal: “Health Insurers Seek Hefty Rate Boosts.” “Major insurers in some states are proposing hefty rate boosts for plans sold under the federal health law, setting the stage for an intense debate this summer over the law’s impact.” (Louise Radnofsky, “Health Insurers Seek Hefty Rate Boosts,” Wall Street Journal, 5/21/15)
  • Weekly Standard: “Millions of Americans Are Losing Their Health Plans Because of Obamacare.” “But the president’s promise is turning out to be false for millions of Americans who have had their health insurance policies canceled because they don’t meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.” (John McCormack, “Millions of Americans Are Losing Their Health Plans Because of Obamacare,” Weekly Standard, 10/23/13)
  • Investor’s Business Daily: “Thanks to ObamaCare, the CBO now expects that 10 million workers will lose their employer-based coverage by 2021.” “But the CBO report also shows that ObamaCare will be far more disruptive to the employer-based insurance market, while being far less effective at cutting the ranks of the uninsured, than promised. Thanks to ObamaCare, the CBO now expects that 10 million workers will lose their employer-based coverage by 2021. (Editorial board, “CBO Now Says 10 Mil Will Lose Employer Health Plans Under ObamaCare,” Investor’s Business Daily, 1/27/15)

President Obama, June 9, 2015: “Americans support this new reality… they like their reality”

Reality:

Breitbart: “WASHINGTON POST POLL: OBAMACARE HITS RECORD UNPOPULARITY.” “A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that a record 54% of Americans oppose Obamacare–the highest disapproval rating ever in the Post-ABC poll–and a six point increase in unpopularity since last year.” (Wynton Hall, “WASHINGTON POST POLL: OBAMACARE HITS RECORD UNPOPULARITY,” Breitbart, 6/9/15)

  • CNN.com: Just 12 percent call Obamacare ‘a success’: “Despite a victory lap by the White House following the release of that number, only 12% of Americans surveyed consider the law a success.” (Paul Steinhauser, “CNN Poll: Should Obamacare be kept or repealed?” CNN.com, 5/11/14)
  • com: “Lie of the Year: ‘If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.’” “[A]s cancellation letters were going out to approximately 4 million Americans, the public realized Obama’s breezy assurances were wrong.” (Angie Drobnic Holan, “Lie of the Year: ‘If you like your health care plan, you can keep it,’” PolitiFact.com, 12/12/13)