In his op-Ed column January 8th Paul Krugman blast Republicans on a number of issues mainly about their unfulfilled dire predictions and their creative ways of ignoring the lack of accuracy. You have to admit he has some points. Why all politicians simply can’t look at the facts and be honest is one of the great mysteries of humankind and one of the greatest failings of human beings who tolerate them.
Nevertheless, while pointing out the error of the Republican ways the old prof again proves my point about the naive nature of the left and the ability to not see the full picture, but rather to be quite selective.
Keep in mind that Obamacare was supposed to make health care affordable first and foremost and thereby make it possible for more Americans to obtain insurance. Yes, millions of Americans obtained insurance; success?
Only those who receive subsidies are finding it more affordable and then only the premium portion because out-of-pocket costs have risen dramatically for everyone including the private sector. The claims of slowing growth in health care costs when measured relative to general inflation is a myth. The many initiatives designed to actually save money and improve quality remain unproven or are faltering with the unintended consequences showing. Workers are finding their actual costs rising as employers cut benefits in anticipation of the Cadillac tax on high blue plans. You can’t measure success by the winners without counting the losers.
As I have pointed out, the enrollment numbers being reported don’t add up so there is reason to question what is actually going on between the number enrolled just before open enrollment, the newly enrolled, the automatically re-enrolled and the cancelations.
Expanding coverage and determining long-term success are two different things. Mr Krugman is smart enough to know that and yet he mocks Paul Ryan’s comment that Obamacare will collapse under its own weight.
Time will tell, but so far “affordable” is in the eye of the beholder.
Excerpt from Krugman op-Ed
Consider, for example, how some Republicans dealt with good news about health reform. Before Obamacare went into effect, they overwhelmingly insisted that it would be a disaster, that more people would lose insurance than would gain it. They were, of course, delighted by the technical problems that initially crippled the program’s website. But those problems were fixed, and enrollment soared. Their response? “They are cooking the books,” declared Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, who now leads the Senate Republican Policy Committee.
But that was then. At this point we have multiple independent confirmations — most recently from Gallup — that Obamacare has dramatically expanded insurance coverage. So what do they say now? The law “will collapse under its own weight,” says Representative Paul Ryan, the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
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