Unworkable ObamaCare
Opaque rules, delays and inconsistent guidance from Washington: The chaos
is mounting.
- BOBBY
JINDAL
- AND SCOTT
WALKER
From the Wall
Street Journal
Remember when
President Obama famously promised that if you like your health-care plan,
you'll be able to keep your health-care plan? It was a brilliantly crafted
political sound bite. Turns out, the statement is untrue.
Aside from that
small detail, the slightly larger problem is that the Obama administration
doesn't have a health-care plan. Yes, the White House has a law with thousands
of pages, but the closer we get to Oct. 1, the day government-mandated
health-insurance exchanges are supposed to open, the more we see that the
administration doesn't have a legitimate plan to successfully implement the
law.
Unworkable.
That word best describes ObamaCare. Government agencies in states across the
country, whether red or blue, have spent countless hours and incalculable
dollars trying to keep the ObamaCare train on its track, but the wreck is
coming. And it is the American people who are going to pay the price.
Fifty-five
working days before the launch of the ObamaCare health-insurance exchanges on
Oct. 1, the administration published a 600-page final rule that employers,
individuals and states are expected to follow in determining eligibility for
millions of Americans. Rather than lending clarity to a troubled project, the
guidelines only further complicated it.
If the experience of those working with
the ObamaCare implementation at the state level had been taken into account,
progress might have been possible, but the administration has treated states
with mistrust. Perhaps that's because we can see that the federal government is
repeating mistakes of the past and we know that outcomes rarely reflect what
Washington has promised.
Adding to this
mounting problem, the guidance that President Obama has offered to date has
been inconsistent, arbitrary and frustrating—contributing further to the grave
uncertainty that surrounds this law. But not everything about it is uncertain:
In February, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that seven
million Americans will lose their employer-based health insurance as a result
of ObamaCare.
On July 12,
three of the country's largest unions sent a letter to Democratic leaders in
Congress stating that ObamaCare would shatter not only hard-earned health
benefits, but also destroy the 40-hour workweek that is the backbone of the
American middle class. ObamaCare defines full-time employment as 30 hours per
week. No wonder these unions are alarmed: They are widely credited with helping
to get the votes to pass this unworkable law.
The
administration, recognizing that ObamaCare is a ticking bomb, earlier this
month announced that it would delay until 2015 the requirement that businesses
offer health-care insurance to its employees or pay a fine. Yet the
administration didn't also grant relief to individuals.
Think about
that for a moment: The Obama team, for now, has spared employers but not
employees. The day of reckoning for businesses is put off, but not for everyday
citizens. Many Americans may wonder: On what authority does the administration
arbitrarily decide which aspects of a law not to enforce and which ones to
keep?
As governors,
we have been expressing concern about the unworkability of ObamaCare since its
passage in 2010. We have seen the trouble the law poses for our own state
economies. The most recent evidence: The government recently said that it will
not verify the eligibility of individuals who apply for subsidized insurance on
the health-care exchanges.
Governors have
firsthand experience with implementing public-assistance programs. We know how
important it is to care for our most vulnerable citizens and to ensure that
people are healthy and able to work. We also know that a one-size-fits-all
approach like ObamaCare simply doesn't work. It only creates new problems and
inequalities. That's why if you look at all 50 states, you'll see 50 unique
ways of handling Medicaid.
Health-care
premiums are going up. Many businesses have stopped hiring, to avoid reaching
the limit of 50 full-time employees where they are required to offer health
benefits. Those businesses that are hiring often take on part-time workers to
stay under the full-time cap. Older individuals seeking work are finding that
companies are reluctant to take a chance on their potential health-care costs.
These are just
a few of the problems resulting from a program that wasn't thought through
before it was rushed into law. No wonder we hear that the Obama attack machine
is gearing up to blame everyone but the law itself for the chaos that lies
ahead.
This law was a
bad idea from the start, and the American public never supported it. The Obama
team, taking advantage of an unusual two-year window when Democrats controlled
all branches of government, foisted upon the country a liberal hodgepodge of
unworkable notions that will wreak havoc on American health care. Delaying
implementation of ObamaCare, not just the employer mandate, is a reasonable
idea. But an even better one would be a complete repeal.
Mr. Jindal is
the governor of Louisiana. Mr. Walker is the governor of Wisconsin.
Poster's
comments;
Sometimes we can have good
intentions and crummy laws to implement them.
I for one have quit going to my
doctor, who even doesn't know what his future is.
My priorities remain growing some
food and making some electricity.
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