Editor,
The Obama administration’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, has been a topic of several cartoons in recent issues of the Daily Lobo. As witty as these cartoons may be, they are not amusing. These cartoons do not come close to demonstrating the catastrophic failure Obamacare is turning out to be. Below are some of the key facts that demand outrage.
Firstly, Obama flagrantly lied about Americans being able to keeping their insurance policies. Sally Pipes wrote in Forbes magazine that President Obama asserted for four years on 23 separate occasions that “If you like your insurance plan, you will keep it. No one will be able to take that away from you.”
Contrary to Obama’s assurances, Forbes magazine reported that, as of the Nov. 12 due to the Affordable Care Act, 4.8 million Americans will have had their insurance policies cancelled, with many more cancellations to follow. Additionally, NBC news reported that as of July 2010, the Obama administration was aware that under the Act, 40 to 67 percent of Americans would not be able to keep their insurance policies. The evidence is quite damning; Obama openly lied about the consequences of the Affordable Care Act.
Secondly, the online federal exchange, or healthcare.gov, has had astonishingly low enrollment, and according to experts will never have its infamous technical problems repaired. The Obama administration reported Wednesday, Nov. 13 that for the month of October, healthcare.gov enrolled 26,794 Americans, with another 79,391 enrolling through state exchanges for a total of 106,185.
This is 20 percent of the Obama administration’s expected enrollment for October of half a million.
Many tech experts, including John McAfee, founder of McAfee security, have unanimously stated that the website is unfixable, and that it would be better to start building the website from scratch. The Obama administration’s claim that the website will improve by the end of November is unfounded.
Finally, the Act drastically raises premiums for those purchasing insurance independently. Forbes reported from a Manhattan institute study that nationwide premiums for independents are expected to rise 41 percent. In New Mexico, according to the Manhattan Institute, the average premium increase will be 142 percent.
Since its implementation, the Affordable Care Act has resulted in insurance policy cancellations for millions, yielded futile enrollment in the federal exchange and drastically increased premiums for independent purchasers. This is the antitheses of ‘affordable’ and ‘care.’
Despite Obama’s attempts to appease any outrage, the facts that he lied and that Obamacare has achieved the opposite of its stated goals remains. The extent to which Americans tolerate this calamity is the extent to which the standards of accountability we expect from the president have fallen.
How far have our standards fallen? In the private sector, lying invalidates a contract. If this is our standard, then President Obama’s lies are grounds for demanding an appeal of the Affordable Care Act, and for his resignation. If this is not our standard, what can we expect when the most powerful man in the world is the least accountable?
Phillip Valencia
UNM student
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