Sunday, October 23, 2016

Fact checking the President's seven lies about health insurance

First, he's like Mrs. Clinton.  I think her lies are pathological; his are probably just political--wants so badly to have a legacy.  Second, the figure for the uninsured was always incorrect even back in 2009; always a lie, always a myth.  Many "uninsured" people were eligible for Medicaid then and hadn't bothered with the red tape--they just went to the ER. A goodly number were single men with no dependents who weren't working. Now they have even less incentive to work.  Many people didn't want to sign up for employer's health insurance because they were young and didn't want the pay the co-pay (I can remember arguing with my own young adults about this 25 years ago).  Many people chose to just pay their own health costs, or negotiate for it, which actually can be cheaper, especially now.

This is not to say there weren't any Americans without health insurance (which is different than healthcare--by law everyone had that).  Question: why not a program to target them instead of dismantling a system that was working for 80% of the population?  Answer: Because he wanted to control 1/5 of the economy. The end goal is single payer. 

So in his latest  inaccurate speech in Florida about Obamacare, which is failing big time with rising costs, here's the fact check by the Daily Signal.

1.  20,000,000 more people have health insurance.  "Though the uninsured rate has reached a historic low and 20 million Americans now have health insurance, the majority of those who enrolled in coverage under Obamacare qualified for Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act loosened the guidelines for Medicaid eligibility, and since the law was passed in 2009, 31 states and the District of Columbia have expanded the program. 97 percent of the new enrollees, or 8.99 million people, enrolled in Medicaid. And of course, it's the states that have to pick up those costs, and states can not run a deficit the way the federal government does.

2. When a Democrat governor replaced a Republican governor he wanted the money and found he actually saved money with the expanded Medicaid because of fewer ER visits. "Despite the president’s claim, recent findings from a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that expanding Medicaid won’t stop patients from using emergency rooms for primary care."  Oregon did a study in 2008 and found the same thing--use went up--40% increase.

3. Obamacare has not affected the coverage for most Americans. "Though the majority of Americans receive their health insurance coverage through their employers, consumers purchasing plans both on and off the exchange have seen their narrower networks, canceled policies, and increased deductibles and premiums."  President Obama apparently doesn't read social media where people are posting photos of their notices of increase.

4. The Federal government is covering the cost of Medicaid expansion. This is a big duh! It's not Monopoly Money.  It's still our tax money, sir.  And it's only for 3 years and then the silly governors like John Kasich of Ohio who took the carrot rather than have a spine will have to find that money. "An August report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary found that the cost of Medicaid expansion for 2015 was $6,366 per person—49 percent higher than past estimates."

5. “Most people today can find a plan for less than $75 a month at the HealthCare.gov marketplace when you include the tax credits that the government is giving you.”  Face smack.
The government doesn't "give" anything.  It takes. "Of the 17.3 million people who purchase plans sold in the individual market in 2015, 7.3 million received subsidies that lowered the cost of their health insurance. Another 10 million consumers did not qualify for financial assistance. Those consumers, experts say, are going to be hit the hardest by premium increases."

6.  "Although the marketplaces are working well in most of the states, there are some states where there’s still not enough competition between insurers.”  So the President is blaming the insurers for his plan to destroy the health insurance of 80% of Americans (designed by Bob Creamer, the ex-felon recently fired by the DNC for arranging for riots at the Trump rallies). "Choice and competition among insurers has decreased not only as insurers have left the exchanges, but as the nonprofit consumer operated and oriented plans, or co-ops, have failed. The health care law approved the creation of 23 co-ops, which were designed to provide consumers with more choice. However, in three years, 17 co-ops have collapsed."

 7.) “In some states, the premium increases are manageable, 2 percent or 8 percent, some 20 percent. But we know there’s some states that may see premiums go up by 50 percent or more.” Well, sweet. Who wants their premiums to go up by 50%?  Is he not president of those people, too?  Only one state, Vermont, has an increase less than 10%.

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