http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2013/11/26/magnitude-lie/The Magnitude of the Lie
by KEITH KOFFLER on NOVEMBER 26, 2013, 11:54 AM
Let’s think for a second about the immensity of what was done to the American people. The lie that was told. And continues to be told. And the resulting, awful, and unavoidable conclusion that your government cannot be trusted.
Obama’s claim, stated ad nauseum, that you could keep your health insurance, your doctor, your hospital, you proctologist, and so forth, was not just untrue. It was about as far from the truth as Harry Reid is from being a Martian.
Obama and Sebelius
Photo by Keith Koffler
On second thought, that’s not so far. But you get what I’m talking about.
The claim wasn’t even in the ballpark. Because not just a few plans are going to change. Most of them will. Tens of millions. And Obama knew it.
Because the notion that your insurance must change is not just a fun fact about Obamacare; it’s central to its premise.
Obamacare guarantees certain benefits. Therefore, ergo, and so . . . PLANS THAT DON’T OFFER THESE BENEFITS HAVE TO CHANGE OR END.
Obama likes to note that while he gets called a lot of things, stupid isn’t one of them. I think he’s a little overrated as an intellect, but he’s no doubt extremely smart. And therefore, he must have understood the basic facts of Obamacare.
Earlier this month, the White House was confronted with the evidence that millions on the individual market would lose their insurance because their plans didn’t meet Obamacare’s requirements. “A tiny segment of the market,” sneered a barely chastened White House. The overwhelming majority with employer-sponsored plans need not worry.
Not true. The lying continues.
Many moons ago, in June 2010, the administration published in the federal register an estimate that suggested around half of the 156 million Americans with employer-provided health insurance held plans that would not be “grandfathered” into qualifying as compliant with Obamacare and that would have to change:
The Departments’ mid-range estimate is that 66 percent of small employer plans and 45 percent of large employer plans will relinquish their grandfather status by the end of 2013.
For those like our intellectual leader who perhaps didn’t want to comb through the fine print, it was spelled out in a handy little graph.
Some of these people would just lose their insurance outright, since the new Obama-blessed plans would cost employers more.
As you may have seen in the CBS news item below, in April 2010, just after the law was signed, the Obama administration itself estimated that Obamacare would “collectively reduce the number of people with employer-sponsored health insurance by about 14 million.”
Others would continue to have insurance provided by their employers. But all would have their insurance change. What’s more, if you have great, expensive insurance from your generous employer – or a stingy employer forced to provide a good deal by a prickly union – your employer may also trim your benefits to avoid a tax Obamacare slaps on these so-called “Cadillac Plans.”
And what about the supposed $2,500 average annual savings on premiums that families were promised? Or the “bending” cost curve that doesn’t seem to be bending so much, at least not in response to Obamacare? Or the promise that Obamacare wouldn’t harm the deficit, when the cuts used to pay for it can no longer be used for deficit reduction?
We weren’t just lied to. We were sucker punched, kicked on the ground, and thrown in a trench.
I’d say we were sold snake oil, but at least snake oil has the benefit of a placebo effect.
This was all inevitable, because it’s in the law. So where was the 5,000-word exposé in the New York Times? Why wasn’t Romney hammering away, You’re going to lose your insurance, your going to lose your insurance, until voters were hypnotized into voting for him?
How do we trust Obama when he makes promises about Iran and nuclear weapons, promises that relate to world peace and the very existence of our republic? Forget where you stand politically. Obama is our president for another three years. America needs to trust its president and the government he commands – at least a little more than it trusts a used car salesman.
It can’t. And that’s a tragedy.
