The Purpose of This Bl;og

By and large, liberals are very decent, kind, and compassionate people who genuinely want what is best. This should be kept in mind as we explore the Law of Unintended Negative Consequences near invariably resulting from Leftist big-hearted solutions to societal problems.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Obamacare - Disinformation (Summary)

Disinformation has been used over the last half decade or more to propagandize Obamacare. I am in the process of compiling an ongoing, extensive, though not comprehensive list from among my articles and elsewhere. I will present them summarily in cogent form so as to provide a better sense of the extent to which the American public has been misled.  I will leave the reader to decide whether the misleading was intentional or not.
  1. Obamacare has been and continues to be described as "universal health care."  This is false. Even at best, 15 million Americans will still remain uninsured under Obamacare, and at worst 129 million will lose coverage. (See HERE)
  2. The Obama administration estimated that nearly 3.3 million people would sign up on the exchanges by the end of 2013. This turned out to be false. Only 1.1 signed up. (See HERE)
  3. Obamacare was touted to decrease the number of uninsured in America. So far, this is false. In 2013, nearly 5 million people lost insurance coverage, whereas only 1.1 signed up through the exchanges, making it a net loss of nearly 4 million. (See HERE)
  4. Obamacare was sold under the commitment that it will lower insurance premiums by $2500.00. This is false. Not only have and will insurance premiums continue to increase (conservatively on average by 32 percent), but so have and will deductibles and out-of pocket expenses (topping $6000.00 a person). (See HERE)
  5. The Obama administration has misleadingly attempted to spin the premium increases by claiming they are the lowest in decades because of Obamacare. (See HERE)
  6. They also deceptively intimated that, because of Obamacare, the growth in premiums would decline by 16% from what was originally expected. This is false. (See HERE)
  7. Another Liberal spin was that premiums would be lower for many people because of government subsidies. This is mostly false. (See HERE)
  8. Because of the administration's heightened concern over the potential political fallout from people learning beforehand about the rising premiums, they deceptively put a gag order on insurance companies reporting premium increases. (See HERE)
  9. One of the more flagrant misdirects was Liberals pointing to the allegedly lower premiums while keeping silent about the increase in deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. In this way they attempted to obscure just how much more expensive will be people's heath care. (See HERE and HERE and HERE)
  10. We were promised that Obamacare would cover more treatments  This is false. In reality, there will be but a shift from people with insurance willingly paying for certain treatments that most people want, to people being forced to pay for certain treatments for which they would rather not. (See HERE)
  11. As a way of currying sympathy for his health care plan, Obama claimed that his mother was denied treatment based on pre-existing conditions. This turns out to be false. (see HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE)
  12. We were promised that Obamacare would cover more conditions. This is false. What Obamacare gives in terms of removing the restriction for preexisting conditions, it takes away in terms of adding restrictions for chronic conditions. (See HERE)
  13. We were promised that Obamacare would provide insurance coverage from job to job. This is mostly false. Obamacare does very little in making insurance portable for job changes within states, and it does nothing for job changes from state to state. (See HERE)
  14. In addition to universal coverage, one of the key purposes behind Obamacare, and one of its primary selling points, was that it would reduce healthcare costs. This is false. Cost have risen, and are projected to continue to increase at an average rate of  5.8 percent through 2022. (See HERE)
  15. When it became clear that health costs were going up under Obamacare, this was spun to say that the rate of growth was declining because of Obamacare. This is false. Reduction in cost growth began years before Obamacare, and the reductions were greater prior to Obamacare. So, if anything, Obamacare slowed rather than speed up the reduction in cost growth. (See HERE)
  16. We were also told that the CMS projections for healthcare costs have been revised downward because of cost reductions due to Obamacare. This is false. (See HERE)
  17. The Obama administration claimed that the cost of prescription drugs have gone down and would continue to decline, particularly for seniors with Medicare Part D plans. This is false. The cost of drugs have gone up and are projected to continue to grow for the next 10 years. And, with what little relief that seniors may have gotten through Part D plans over the last 8 years, it had nothing to do with Obamacare, and in fact the relief will be phased out because of Obamacare by 2020. (See HERE)
  18. Since Obamacare has seen costs rise, and coverage and services decline--both in terms of quality and quantity, and since many people can't keep the plans and doctors they like, and since this negatively impacts more so the poor and elderly and sick, all contrary to what was promised, then the bill was deceptively named the Affordable Care and Patent Protection Act. (See HERE)
  19. Americans were given the firm pledge that Obamacare would offer them similar plans to those of federal employees. This is false. Not only isn't Obamacare anything like the federal plans, but the very feds who created Obamacare, and who were constantly talking it up as the best health care solution, disliked it so much that they waived the requirement for themselves and their staff. (See HERE)
  20. Obama claimed that the voices of Americans wouldn't be drowned out during his presidency, but instead he would listen to them. In regards to Obamacare, this is false. Most Americans didn't want Obamacare, but the President didn't listen to them, and forced it on them nevertheless. (See HERE)
  21. Obama has styled himself as a uniter and not a divider, and he promised greater bi-partisanship during his administration. In terms of Obamacare, this is false. It was, and has been one of the most partisan and divisive acts in legislative history. (See HERE)
  22. Obama claimed to have done more than any other candidate to take on lobbyist, and promised that they wouldn't set the agenda in Washington, or run the White House, or be on his staff, nor drown out the voice of the people. In terms of Obamacare, this is false. Lobbyists have been heavily involved, if not more so than ever. (See HERE)
  23. Regarding Obamacare, Barack Obama promised greater transparency in the form of televised hearings. With few exceptions, this didn't happen. (See HERE)
  24. He also promise greater transparency in the form of no closed doors. Yet, many doors were closed. (See HERE)
  25. Obama pledged to change the broken-down politics of Washington. In terms of Obamacare, he made matters worse by introducing corrupt, Chicago-style politics. (See HERE and HERE)
  26. Obama promised not to raise taxes on the middle class and poor. In terms of Obamacare, this turned out to be false. People earning less than $250K a year will pay more taxes directly, indirectly, and deferred. (See HERE)
  27. Obama adamantly denied that the Obamacare mandate fees were a tax. He was wrong. In order for Obamacare to pass constitutional muster, Obama's own Justice Department argued that the fees were taxes. (See HERE)
  28. Obamacare was initially sold under the promise that it wouldn't raise the deficit even a dime. This turned out to false, and the projections upon which the selling points were based, were shown to be deceptively manipulated. (See HERE)
  29. Obamacare was later sold under the promise that it would reduce the deficit. While this may be true over the short term, ultimately it turns out to be false. (See HERE)
  30. We were told that Obamacare would provide more choices. This is false. On average there will be fewer choices in terms of affordable and quality insurance, doctors, treatment, and hospitals. (See HERE)
  31. We were told that Obamacare would improve the quality of health care. This is false. It does the opposite. (See HERE)
  32. We were promised that there would be no rationing through Obamacare. Even though the Affordable Care Act supposedly prevents certain kinds of rationing, this is still false. Among other things, there have been and will be rationing in terms of price, coverage, choices of plans and doctors and hospitals, quality of care, as well as services.(See HERE)
  33. Obama claimed that there were no "death panels" built into Obamacare. This is false. (See HERE and HERE
  34. Liberal "fact checkers" claimed that "death panels" was the lie of the year. This is false. (ibid.)
  35. Americans were emphatically promised that they could keep the plans and doctors they liked, period, no matter what. This turned out to be false. (See HERE)
  36. Obama claimed he never made this promise. This is false. (ibid)
  37. Obama claimed he didn't know the promise would be broken. This is false. (ibid)
  38. Obama claimed that the broken promise only applies to the individual market. This is false. (ibid)
  39. Obama claimed that people are better off in spite of the broken promise. This is false. (ibid)
  40. The insinuation that people were expecting unlimited choices, is false. (ibid)
  41. The spin that the President didn't break his promise since people can keep their plans if they can afford them, is false. (ibid)
  42. The spin that insurance companies, and not Obamacare, are responsible for the massive cancellations, is false. (ibid)
  43. The spin that Obamacare isn't problematic because cancellations have always occurred, is false. (ibid)
  44. The spin that cancellations only occurred with plans created after Obamacare began, is false. (ibid)
  45. Obamacare was initially marketed as opposing the individual mandate because it would "hurt" and "pile on" the poor. Instead, Obama promised universal health care through lowering costs. This promise turned out to be false (see above) And, yet, he was elected president on those stated terms. As President, though, Obama included the individual mandate in his health care plan and later signed it into law, thereby forcing people to purchase insurance at the threat of significant tax penalties, which "hurts" and "piles on" the poor. This was a politically expedient bait and switch. (See HERE)
  46. Obama compared the individual mandate to auto insurance requirements. This is false. (See HERE)
  47. Liberals have suggested that the individual mandate isn't a big deal because in only impacts relatively few people. This is false. It will likely end up impacting more than a hundred million people. (See HERE)
  48. The individual mandate was touted as the means for guaranteeing or producing universal health care. This is false. Tens of millions of people don't know about the mandate and penalty, and even more plan not to sign up. (See HERE)
  49. Liberal "fact checkers" claim that assertion about government "take over" of health care, was the lie of the year. This is false. (See HERE and HERE
  50. Obama seems to be operating under the impression that since Obamacare is his plan and bears his name, he is entitled to do with it whatever he wishes. This is dubious at best and false at worst. (See HERE
  51. Obamacare was pitched as a boon to the economy, whereas in multiple ways the opposite turned out to be the case. (See HERE)
  52. Liberals claimed that Obamacare would create millions of jobs, hundreds of thousands immediately. Not only did this turn out to be false, but the ACA killed jobs and forced numerous people into part-time, temporary, lower paying work. (See HERE)
  53. Obama claimed that Obamacare would be made affordable in large part though improved health care technology. However, the healthcare.gov web site debacle flies in the face of  this claim and cast serious doubt on the entire enterprise. (See HERE)
  54. Obama claimed that technology would cut costs. So far, this is false. The Obamacare web sitehas become a black hole for hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars. (ibid.)
  55. The administration blamed everyone else but themselves for the healthcare.gov disaster. They were wrong. (ibid)
  56. The administration projected that half a million people would sign up during the fist month of enrollment. This turned out to be false. (ibid)
  57. Of all the points of disinformation listed thus far, this is the most significant of all, and the one that gives cause for all the other disinformation: "Supposedly, the purpose of the Affordable Care Act was to lower health insurance costs and provide better health insurance plans for people to purchase." This is false. "The actual purpose of the ACA is to prepare the ground for a single payer system to come later." (See HERE and HERE)
NEXT     START of SERIES     SUBJECT INDEX

For an explanation as to why these Leftist LUNCs occur, please see: Gov: Wrong Tool for the Right Job - Introduction and Cold Nanny as well as The Politics of Compassion, Emotions, Ignorance, Denial, Blame-Shifting, and Victimization

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