Becoming an Informed Voter Part 5: Obamacare is Fully Implemented.

Everyone likes a good deal.  If someone offers something free, people will beat a path to your door to get it.  If the government is offering it, you will get votes, perhaps even a majority.  However, if the government is offering something free, it means they have had to take it from someone else to pay for it and that someone else may be you.  This is the problem with Obamacare.  Many voted for Obama thinking they would never have to pay for healthcare again but like any government program, there is a price to pay.  For Obamacare, the price is higher taxes and reduced services.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, in 2015 the nation will have 62,900 fewer doctors than needed.  The reason for this shortage is due to the aging population of baby boomers who will require more health care.  Obamacare exacerbates the problem by extending coverage to an additional 30 million Americans. (1)  Doctors are also beginning to refuse seeing Medicare patients due to reduced payments from government under Obamacare.  The reduction in income potential for doctors is also causing some to retire early and discouraging students from enrolling in medical school.  (1)  Even though there will be a doctor shortage, individuals will still receive care but wait longer for it. 

Proponents of Obamacare claim that people will be able to keep their own doctor and healthcare plan.  However, according to the consulting firm Deloitte that surveyed 560 U.S. companies, 1 out of 10 of these companies is planning to end their employee health insurance plans when Obamacare takes effect.  (1).  The law forces individuals losing their coverage into a healthcare exchange and your current doctor may not be a part of the exchange.  For these individuals, Obamacare costs them both their doctor and health insurance.   

When Congress passed Obamacare, the total cost was under $1 trillion for the first ten years.  To keep the cost below $1 trillion, they used an accounting trick.  Taxes are collected but no benefits are paid out until 2014.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently scored the legislation using the real first decade (2014 through 2023) and determined the real cost to be $1.93 trillion.  In addition, there will still be 30 million uninsured.  (1)

Excise taxes levied on medical device providers (i.e. stents, artificial joints, etc.) will cost jobs and force many out of business.  Mike Minogue, a CEO of one of these companies recently told the House Committee on Small Business that “these excise taxes are equivalent to 15 percent of his company’s research and development costs and 10 percent of its employee head count.” (1)  He went on to say, “This tax will affect jobs.  It will mix health care reform with tax policy and it will be extra detrimental to companies that are not yet profitable and need every dollar to survive,” (1) The industry employees more than 400,000 employees and with 70 percent of medical device companies being small businesses, this legislation will force many out of business, resulting in the outsourcing or elimination of many jobs.  (1)

Part of the financing for Obamacare comes through taking $716 billion out of Medicare.  Medicare is already projected to go broke by 2024 (2) so taking money out of the program now will only accelerate the go broke date.  However, proponents of Obamacare claim that Obamacare covers the shortfall through the increased  efficiencies of Obamacare and through lower payments to Medicare providers.  As we discussed earlier, adding an additional 30 million users to the system while forcing more doctors out of the system through lower pay only exacerbates the problem further. (1)

Obamacare will also raise prices on products we buy.  Recently Papa John’s Pizza founder John Schnatter spurred outrage when he stated Obamacare would raise pizza costs.  The reason, increased costs due to rising health insurance premiums and taxes for providing health insurance to his employees.  Current estimates place the increases at 3 percent or more.  (3) These increased costs are not limited to the Pizza industry so we can look forward to increased prices on many of the products we use. 

The only way to prevent these events from occurring is for there to be a full repeal of Obamacare.  Republicans, including Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney, have promised full repeal of the law.  However, full repeal is possible only with republican control of every elected branch of government.  We must then hold these elected officials accountable to their promise to fully repeal the law.  If they fail to live up to their promise, voters will replace them in the next election.  The power is with us the voters this November. 

1. Benson, Guy. Thanks, Obamacare: Doctor Shortages, Jobs Destroyed, Coverage Dropped. townhall.com. [Online] Townhall.com, July 30, 2012. [Cited: September 11, 2012.] http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2012/07/30/obamacare_fewer_doctors_jobs_destroyed_coverage_lost.

2. Paul C. Broun, M.D. U.S. Congressman. GOP Doctors Caucus: Medicare Trustee Report reinforces urgent need for reform . broun.house.gov. [Online] April 24, 2012. [Cited: September 11, 2012.] http://broun.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=292261.

3. Vision to America. Papa John’s Founder Warns ‘Pizza Tax’ Is Only a Hint of Obamacare Costs to Come. visiontoamerica.com. [Online] August 10, 2012. [Cited: September 11, 2012.] http://visiontoamerica.com/11446/papa-johns-founder-warns-pizza-tax-is-only-a-hint-of-costs-to-come/.