Thursday, January 12, 2017

Obamacare and Wellness

Only shadows ahead
Barely clearing the roof
Get to know the feeling of liberation and relief
--Crowded House

Democrats have been seeking to raise popular resistance to Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare by sloganeering that repeal would "Make America sick again." Apparently, they are ignoring the data which suggest that Obamacare itself is not improving, and may be deteriorating, the US health profile.

Since the core of the ACA went into effect in 2014, death rates are up and life expectancy is down. Studies suggest that, although it increased use of healthcare services, the expansion of Medicaid eligibility under the ACA has had no impact on objective measures of health.

Economically, Obamacare has reduced employment and increased the national debt by hundreds of billion$. Health insurance premiums have also increased dramatically for many Americans, contradicting the president's personal assurance that Americans would $2500 annually under his signature law.

As we have noted before, all of this was sadly predictable.

The dust bin of history beckons...

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