Tomorrow marks two years since President Obama signed his government takeover of health care into law.
Nancy Pelosi once said Congress had to pass ObamaCare before the public could learn what was in it. Two years later, the nation’s workers and employers are still learning new details and living with the harmful consequences of the law.
Since enactment, numerous studies and personal testimony confirm the law is doing more harm than good. A quick glance through a few more recent accounts illustrates the law’s many flaws and a history of broken promises.
Broken Promise: “If you like your coverage, you can keep it”
Throughout the long campaign to win support for his government-run health care scheme, President Obama famously promised the American people, "if you like your health coverage, you can keep it." Not surprisingly, this claim turned out to be just
one of many empty slogans.
Last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a
report estimating as many as
20 million Americans could lose their employer-provided health care coverage as a result of the law. The report also notes low wage workers are most likely to lose their coverage. This is yet another example of the disruptive effects of the health care law.
Broken Promise: Health Care Law Will Create New Jobs
Employers around the country have repeatedly expressed concerns that ObamaCare is standing in the way of their ability to grow their businesses and hire new workers.
- A recent Gallup poll revealed 48% of business owners cite the potential cost of health care regulations in their decision not to hire additional workers.
- In an interview with the Washington Times, National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) President Dan Danner said “125,000 to 249,000 jobs will be lost because of this one [health insurance] tax; small businesses will shoulder 59 percent of this burden alone.” A November 2011 NFIB study confirms this fact.
- Last year, CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf testified that our nation’s employers will create 800,000 fewer jobs by 2021 thanks to the punitive policies of ObamaCare.
- At a committee field hearing last month in Pennsylvania, Manufacturer & Business Association Director of Government Affairs Lori Joint testified on the law’s impact on job creators. Speaking on behalf of 4,500 employers throughout the Keystone State she stated that “concern and uncertainty has caused a paralysis among many employers, who are now holding off on plans for growth and investment in their business operations.”
Rather than clearing the way for more job growth, the health care law is placing an unnecessary strain on our nation’s job creators as they navigate today’s tough economic climate.
Broken Promise: Health Care Costs Will Drop
The president not only claimed the new law will lower premiums, he even promised to lower the average family’s premium by $2,500. Unfortunately, his rhetoric doesn’t match reality.
- A Kaiser Family Foundation survey shows premiums increased 9 percent in 2011, reaching over $15,000 per year for the average family.
- Last fall, the New York Times highlighted that the cost of health insurance “climbed more sharply than in previous years, outstripping any growth in workers’ wages and adding more uncertainty…”
One by one, the president's empty promises are falling by the wayside and harming our nation's workers, employers, and families along the way. It’s no wonder he isn't celebrating the two year anniversary of his signature legislation. With a record like this, who would?
# # #
