Obamacare is becoming the poster child for leftist solutions: Those wise, smarter-than-thou central planners came up with what they believed was a logical, obviously brilliant and wonderful solution to the "health care crisis," better in all ways than our then-current fractured system.
In nearly all ways, it has failed and met the expectations of its harshest critics.
The Obama administration claimed a "vibrant" marketplace would emerge with increased competition. Instead, we got mass mergers with decreased competition: Healthcare insurers merged to stem losses. Pharmaceutical companies are merging and acquiring each other. Doctors are banding together, joining hospital group practices, or retiring. Hospitals are merging. We are left with fewer, larger organizations, less choice, less competition. Premiums in 2016 were up over 10% in almost half the states; twelve states had premium increases over 20%. United Healthcare is exiting most of the state Obamacare exchanges. In 2017, things are no better: the average increase will be around 9%. But things are much worse in certain spots: Blue Cross Blue Shield is proposing to hammer Alabama with a 40% increase and Texas with 60%!
In a nutshell: Young people are taking the penalty rather than signing up. The ill and/or poor are signing up in greater numbers than expected (but, many that sign up don't follow through and pay, even with subsidized costs). Very few participating insurers are making a profit. The 'risk corridors' don't work. Very little in this works, and none of it is sustainable.
Unexpectedly! (Unless you listened to any of the people arguing against this.)
The president continues to represent the Affordable Care Act as "working". Are Democrats merely disingenuous, or just flat lying liars? Whichever, this is a continuing theme with leftist solutions: Seriously wrong answers to the big problems, which are never admitted to be failures. Start with the "obviously correct" answer, sell it as if it were Gospel Truth, and attack any disagreement as being from troglodyte idiots. (Unless the troglodyte lobby has been donating to the Clinton Foundation.)
Obama's signature legislation is failing. It seems, so far, that 46% of Obamacare co-ops have failed. According to at least one survey, most people think Obamacare has been a failure, and 45% say they are paying more for health insurance, as opposed to seeing the promised $2500 per year reduction. And keep in mind that Obamacare still hasn't been fully implemented, since the Democrats pushed implementation of many of the more objectionable portions into the future.
Remember: This is what liberals do, on their road to turn the USA into Venezuela. The health care market is now a war zone where prices can only rise and innovation will be squelched, and the answer is always more taxation and bigger government. This too will fail.
