"I Don't Know How President Obama Thinks That He's Helping Us"

by Amy Payne, Heritage Foundation, February 4, 2014

“Was it the biggest mistake of your presidency to tell the nation over and over, ‘If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance’?”

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The President acknowledged that he has said he regrets the promise. But as O’Reilly pressed him on the details of Obamacare’s disastrous rollout, Obama said, “You were very generous in saying I look pretty good considering I’ve been in the presidency for five years. And I think part of the reason is, I try to focus not on the fumbles, but on the next plan.”

That may be a nice inspirational saying—look forward; don’t look back—but Obamacare is not in the rearview mirror.

The President told O’Reilly that HealthCare.gov is fixed, people are signing up for Obamacare, and “now it’s working the way it’s supposed to.”

But even for Americans with health insurance, many are just beginning to find out that the way Obamacare works is a nightmare.

“I don’t know how President Obama thinks that he’s helping us,” said Judy, a mother in her 50s whose premiums are going up 42 percent. “We can’t afford to pay these co-pays, to pay these deductibles, on what we’re making.”

Judy’s employer had to break the bad news to his team, as Heritage’s Alissa Tabirian reported:

Gary Simonetta, owner of the Pennsylvania small business, called his employees into a meeting during which they would “all find out for the first time how the Affordable Care Act will affect their medical coverage and how much they’re going to pay for it.”

…Despite choosing “the best option,” Simonetta revealed that the deductibles for employees with children would double, while his own monthly premium would increase by 63 percent.

“They call it the ‘affordable’ health plan? There’s nothing affordable about it,” said Jeff, one of the employees, after seeing his new deductible.

In the relative scheme of things, should these auto shop workers be thankful they are still employed? Businesses continue to report that Obamacare and rising health care costs are causing them to make changes and hesitate to hire people.

These are just a few reasons we need health care reform that lets Americans choose and control their own health coverage. Learn more.

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Quick Hits:

• President Obama actually said this about the IRS — and the White House backed him up the next day.
• Are you ready? For yet another year of inaction on this?
• Guess what else the Obama Administration has not told the public about the Obamacare marketplace.
• On Benghazi: Somebody finally asked the right questions, but the President still ducked them.