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| An Obamacare Report Card--The grades are bad so far--and likely to get worse! |
| 2014-02-14 |
| Perhaps the most unpleasant aspect of my otherwise quite enjoyable job as a college professor has been the requirement to assign grades to students. Given that we're now about halfway through implementation of the Affordable Care Act--which even President Obama is happy to call "Obamacare"--it seems appropriate to assign midterm grades. These are not intended as a forecast of the final grade; moreover, implementation of Obamacare is the responsibility of many thousands of individuals, not just one. Nevertheless, as President Truman's legendary Oval Office desk sign reminds us, "The buck stops here" when it comes to presidential leadership. So whether President Obama likes it or not, the public and historians are likely to base their assessment of his performance on how well his "signature piece of domestic legislation" is implemented. First Grading Standard: Promises vs. Performance Both as a candidate and as president, Barack Obama has made at least 80 promises related to health care. For purposes of grading, I have focused on the 8 most consequential. Promise #1: Universal Coverage. Candidate Obama promised on June 23, 2007: "I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American." The latest CBO projections last May show that as of the end of 2013, Obamacare will have reduced the number of nonelderly uninsured by less than 4 percent. This figure excludes 11 million unauthorized immigrants (51 percent of whom are uninsured). Even when Obamacare is fully implemented in 2017, it will cover only 92 percent of the nonelderly population who are not unauthorized immigrants (nearly everyone age 65 and above is already covered by Medicare), and 84.7 percent of that group already had coverage in March 2009, a full year before Obamacare was signed into law. Even if we concede that other countries relying on an individual mandate have failed to drive their uninsured rates below 1 percent (Switzerland) or 1.5 percent (Netherlands), Obamacare will close only 53 percent of the gap that existed when President Obama was sworn into office. Grade: F. Check out the other ACA promises at the Weekly Standard site. The country was sold snake oil, a Pig in a Poke (at least to about 40% of the people). Many people have been skeptical from the outset--approximately 60% disagreed with Obama's signature legislation (son of HilleryCare). Rantburgers saw the train wreck coming before its inception. The 2014 elections should be interesting as liberal politicians distance themselves from this signature legislation. |
| Posted by:JohnQC |
| #2 Worse? Is it possible to get less than 0? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2014-02-14 16:45 |
| #1 I suspect the 'Hildebeast' and her crew are very busy working on a 2016 campaign, ACA fix. If Champ and his regime can just hold it together until the election. We must never let a crisis go to waste. [sarc off] |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-02-14 10:10 |