As the seemingly endless deluge of negative Obamacare developments continue to mount up, the National Journal’s “Hotline” reported on Thursday that “disapproval of the health care law” has “put Democrats on the defensive” heading into the November midterm elections.
Here are seven Obamacare figures that have Democratic insiders sweating.
1. 56% of uninsured Americans do not like Obamacare.
The Kaiser Family Foundation’s recent polling data reveal that 56% of uninsured Americans–the very people whom Obamacare purports to help–do not like Obamacare.
2. According to the Obama administration’s own figures, Obamacare will spike premiums on 11 million small business employees.
A new report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services concluded that two-thirds of small businesses that offer health insurance will pay higher premiums due to Obamacare. That, reports the Washington Post, means 11 million workers can expect their premiums to jump because of Obamacare. Worse for Democrats, because many employers renewed their pre-Obamacare health plans before the end of 2013, many of these rate spikes will be timed to hit beginning in the second part of 2014 right before the November 4 midterm elections.
3. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says Obamacare will kill 2.5 million jobs over the next 10 years.
By creating disincentives to work, the CBO says Obamacare will result in a “decline in the number of full-time equivalent workers of about 2.0 million in 2017, rising to about 2.5 million in 2024.”
4. Obamacare will cost taxpayers between $1.8 and $2.6 trillion over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has reported that Obamacare will cost American taxpayers $1.798 trillion. The Senate GOP Budget Committee says those figures are based on overly optimistic economic assumptions and scores the real cost at $2.6 trillion.
5. According to the New York Times, 800,000 Obamacare enrollees failed to pay their first premium.
Even as the Obama administration attempts to put a happy face on its low four million enrollees–a figure far removed from its seven million goal–the New York Times says at least 20% of all the people who applied for Obamacare never paid their first month’s premium, thereby rendering them still uninsured.
6. Just 11% of Obamacare customers were previously uninsured.
The purported purpose of Obamacare was to increase health care coverage of uninsured Americans. However, as the Wall Street Journal reported, a McKinsey & Co. study last month found that “only 11% of consumers who bought new coverage under the law were previously uninsured.”
7. Obama reassured Americans at least 36 times that if they liked their health care plan, they could keep their health care plan.
President Barack Obama’s now-infamous promise, “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan” was named Politifact’s “Lie of the Year.” Obama stated the claim at least 36 times, and several Democrats running in tight races parroted the president’s comments before millions of Americans saw their health insurance plans canceled due to Obamacare. Political ads have already begun hitting voters showcasing Democratic candidates repeating Obama’s ill-fated promise.