Every week there’s another Obamacare headline announcing another failure of the President’s health care program. Americans are starting to take notice. According to a recent survey, Obamcare is “more unpopular than ever” - with over half of Americans viewing Obamacare unfavorably.
Pollsters found the sudden change in opinion unusual. Drew Altman, the Chief Executive of the Kaiser Foundation that performed the survey, said “Normally, when negatives go up, you can tie it to an event,” but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
However, we know five reasons why Americans are increasingly disappointed, and it has nothing to do with current events. Instead, they all are consistent failures of the Affordable Care Act:
1. To avoid the expensive mandates under Obamacare, businesses are hiring more part-time workers – making full-time jobs harder to find. Part-time workers are growing increasingly dismal at their full-time job prospects.
2. Premiums are continuing to rise – despite President Obama’s promises. Premiums for health plans through the federal exchange will rise by an average of 13.2% in Florida. In New York, rate hikes as high as 22% have been reported.
3. If you have Obamacare and you like your plan – it’s still going to cost you. People who decide to stick with their existing coverage are at risk for some of the biggest premium increases of all.
4. Small businesses are suffering. A lot. Higher premiums, less benefits, and great uncertainty are making the new health care mandates detrimental to small business owners and workers. Not to mention, the “SHOP” health care market for small businesses, is still not completely functioning.
5. Despite promises of “keeping your doctor” and health care choice – Obamacare is filled with medical limitations. For many Americans, doctors who treated them earlier are now turning them away, even if they haven’t changed insurers.
Obamacare is decreasing in popularity because the problems aren’t going away – in fact, they continue to grow. Our economy is suffering, consumers are facing higher costs and decreased coverage, and promises made are being broken. Americans deserve – and need – better health care alternatives. House Republicans are working to reverse this trend of harmful health care by presenting patient-centered, individualized alternatives that empower Americans’ to make their own health care decisions – not a government to decide for them.
