Excellent piece this morning from Anrew Quinn at the Federalist, detailing exactly what ObamaCare proponents can try to claim as a “success.” The piece starts with this analogy:
The Affordable Care Act’s debut has gone remarkably like a terrible blind date. First, the law kept its cautiously optimistic companion—the American public—waiting well past the scheduled hour. When it finally did arrive, Obamacare blundered in awkwardly with shirt half-tucked and hair unkempt.
It’s instantly obvious that this guy is much less handsome than his Tinder profile suggests and far less interesting than his texts made him seem. As the shock wears off, the truth sinks in: This is going to be a brutal evening. And venting at the mutual friend who vouched for the klutz offers no relief: Instead of apologizing, she instructs you to soldier on—“just give the guy a chance!”—and insists there’s a silver lining. “Okay, he’s not exactly smooth. But he has the best sense of humor.”
Quinn’s conclusion, building on the work of Sean Trende, is that at best the law’s proponents can point to maybe 380,000 people on Medicaid as a result of the Medicaid expansion. And since Medicaid does not make people healthier, the best you can say is that ObamaCare represents a money transfer to 380,000 poor people to deal with health care costs, giving those people the peace of mind that comes with having health insurance. Not analyzed is how many people have lost catastrophic health care plans who had been paying for them, and have lost the very peace of mind that the Medicaid recipients have gained.
Meanwhile, Juan Williams says:
And for all the hype about cancelled health insurance plans, Census reported last year that 68 percent of working age Americans, 18-64, get their healthcare through an employer-provided plan. Those plans have not changed or been cancelled because of Obamacare.
Absolutely true, except for all the plans that were changed or cancelled because of ObamaCare, and the people who have been fired or had their full time jobs converted to part time because of ObamaCare, and all the millions whose policies will be changed or cancelled next year when the employer mandate actually goes into effect . . . Juan.
Sheesh.