This election is a referendum around the Affordable Care Act. Almost everyone in America is affected. Unlike what ObamaCare's defenders claim, the law's hurting millions more and more people than it's helping.
Hillary Clinton defends it and wishes to “build on it.” Donald Trump is promising to “repeal and replace the disaster known as ObamaCare.” It should be our last chance.
“Disaster” sums up the skyrocketing premiums and insufficient choice facing many of the 11 million people enrolled in the exchange plans. The plans are unaffordable, unless you're a low earner obtaining a free ride.
ObamaCare enrollees aren't the only real people being clobbered. When you get insured at the office – as 155 million people do – your deductibles are up an astounding 49 percent since 2011 because of ObamaCare. Part-timers are working fewer hours, so business owners can avoid the law's employer mandate. Taxpayers are on the hook for many 50 new taxes.
Seniors get hit the hardest. Over fifty percent of ObamaCare's costs are taken care of by cutting Medicare, leading to stingy take care of seniors.
Here's how ObamaCare affects you:
Insured through work? The law forces employers to provide a one-size-fits-all benefits package costing a lot more than pre-ObamaCare coverage. What the law states also imposes a slew of recent taxes. No surprise, employers are offsetting these costs by raising deductibles and reducing family coverage. In 2021, a lot of companies will eliminate insurance for spouses.
Working part-time? Thousands and thousands of workers have had their hours cut because ObamaCare requires employers to pay for full-time employees, meaning those working 30 hours per week or more. Ironically, colleges, where Democrats outnumber Republicans, are major culprits, slashing hours for adjuncts and student workers to evade providing insurance.
Job-hunting? ObamaCare dampens the job market. In Ny, 17 percent and services information companies and 21 percent of manufacturers are reducing their workforces to remain below 50 full-time workers and dodge the business mandate, based on the New York Federal Reserve.
Sixty-five or older? ObamaCare awards bonus points to hospitals that spend the least per senior. Researchers found that at 231 hospitals getting bonuses for low spending, seniors died needlessly due to inadequate care. For instance, seniors having heart attacks were instructed to wait too much time for angioplasties and died before they could get the procedure.
ObamaCare emergency-room rules slap seniors with bills for “observation care.” You're in a healthcare facility, but you're not officially “admitted.” It's a cost-cutting gimmick. When it's time to go back home, Medicare doesn't pay and you're stuck with an enormous tab.
A physician? Thank ObamaCare for that thousands of pages of recent regulations dictating the way you treat your Medicare patients. Precious minutes that may be spent talking to a patient are wasted completing tedious, repetitive government forms. Physicians are glued to computer screens, following prompts instead of making eye-to-eye contact with their patients and hearing them.
Refusenik? If you're uninsured and refuse to buy ObamaCare, the average penalty is $995 per adult, $500 per child. Ouch.
Clinton promises voters that she'll make ObamaCare better with vast amounts of dollars of additional spending. But she's not likely to take away the mandates causing individuals to lose work hours or their jobs. As for the regulations suffocating doctors, rely on Hillary to put on more.
Worst of all, Clinton wants to expand Medicare to individuals in their 50s. Seniors are already using a hard time getting a doctor to deal with them for Medicare's low rates. Adding countless “50-somethings” trying to begin to see the same doctors will make it impossible to get a scheduled appointment.
Trump knows ObamaCare has to be junked. His plan eliminates the unaffordable mandates and penalties. Consumers will select from a multitude of plans, sold across state lines, with special help for those who have pre-existing conditions.
Trump gives states flexibility to enhance Medicaid for the poor. His plan resembles what House Republicans are pushing, meaning it might actually get passed. On Nov. 8, voters possess the opportunity to rid this nation of ObamaCare. They should seize it.
Betsy McCaughey is really a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.
