The implementation of Obamacare is on course to be remembered as one of the worst public policy disasters of all time. Though it was billed as a law that would decrease everyone’s insurance premiums by as much as $2500 per year, it is driving prices up, will drive taxes up, and forces Americans to buy a product as the price of being an American.
And then, there’s the Healthcare.gov website…
The fact is, Obamacare stacks up poorly even against one of the most infamous disasters in modern history, the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
Casualties
When Titanic sunk on April 15, 1912, just over 1,500 people tragically lost their lives in the accident.
Obamacare is not an accident, it is an act of politics. The number of Americans that Obamacare will hurt and even kill is incalculable. People are currently losing their insurance plans and cannot log onto Healthcare.gov to buy replacement plans. As many as 16 million Americans face losing their health insurance thanks to Obamacare. It has killed insurance competition in rural America. Some number of Americans will get sick and die without insurance between the time they lose their health insurance and Healthcare.gov finally gets fixed. Once the website gets fixed, Obamacare still includes the Independent Payment Advisory Board, an unelected panel empowered to ration health care. The IPAB is the “death panel” that may make life-or-death decisions for Americans, for as long as Obamacare is law. Obamacare still subsidizes as many as 115,000 abortions per year as well.
Warnings
The Titanic was crossing the Atlantic near its maximum speed of about 21.5 knots in the dead of night, and had little warning before it struck the iceberg that pierced its hull. Other ships had seen and passed on warnings about icebergs in the area of Titanic’s path on the night of her sinking, but there was not coordinated way to track icebergs in 1912. Titanic was traveling so fast because her captain, Edward Smith, wanted to shatter the record for traveling across the Atlantic.
The Obama administration had three years to build Healthcare.gov, a website that is not fundamentally revolutionary when compared to the likes of Progressive.com or Amazon.com. Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare during a window when they controlled all power in Washington, and were more concerned about passing a health care law than with passing a good health care law. Most of them never bothered to read the law they passed. Many of them sold their votes for pork or empty promises. While the Titanic had little advance warning of the iceberg, the Obama administration was warned by stress tests months before the site’s launch that Healthcare.gov would crash. But they did not heed those warnings.
Sinking
The Titanic was arrogantly promoted as “unsinkable.” It sunk on its maiden voyage.
Obamacare was arrogantly sold as a program that would allow Americans to keep their doctors and health plans if they liked them, and make healthcare more affordable. Its website sunk on its first day in operation. It is also sinking American health care. Obamacare is driving doctors from their practices, driving health insurance prices skyward for millions of Americans, and causing many Americans to lose their insurance outright. It is causing some Americans to have their work hours cut so their employers can get out of Obamacare’s mandates. It forces younger Americans to subsidize everyone else’s health care. Labor unions warn that Obamacare is fundamentally destroying the 40-hour work week. At this point, there is a danger that Obamacare may cause a net loss of the number of Americans who have full-time jobs and health insurance. It is already creating a drag on job creation in a struggling economy.
Positive changes to law resulting from disaster
The Titanic’s tragic sinking resulted in a number of positive changes to maritime law. Titanic failed to carry enough lifeboats for all of its passengers, After her sinking, passenger ships were required to carry enough lifeboats for all to escape. After its sinking, the International Ice Patrol was established to monitor icebergs in the Atlantic and North Atlantic and broadcast iceberg locations.
Obamacare itself is a law that is causing chaos in the insurance industry. So far it is not creating any positive changes to law, as Obamacare itself is a negative change to law that forces Americans to buy a product or face the IRS, and forces insurance companies to act against their own economic interests. Obamacare forces insurance companies to either hike premiums or carry more customers at a loss. It will bring more patients before a shrinking number of doctors and hospitals. It makes health care less accessible,and threatens to bankrupt the health insurance industry. If it remains in place as is, Obamacare is likely to create an even larger disaster as it destroys the private health insurance industry across the United States. Many Americans will die in Obamacare’s chaos, and that number will far exceed Titanic’s tragic toll.
Will the US economy suffer a similar fate?
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