FACT CHECK: Obama’s 09/27/2013 Speech on ObamaCare

09.27.2013 original publish date
12.20.2014 replaced broken link with original PDF

President Barack Obama speaks about the Affordable Care Act(Photo credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
President Barack Obama speaks about the Affordable Care Act (Photo credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

FACT CHECK: Obama’s 09/27/2013 Speech on ObamaCare

original article written by Net Advisor

WASHINGTON, DC. President Obama gave a prepared speech today regarding Iran, Congress, the deficit and ObamaCare. We found more holes in that speech than in a game of golf.

At this time we are going to ignore the political rhetoric and focus here on two major statements the president made that are not exactly accurate.

[1] The Uninsured:

“On Tue (10/01/13) about 40 Million more Americans will be able finally be able to buy affordable quality healthcare just like anybody us.”

— President Obama said on 09/27/2013; speech

Misleading: The President’s statement is misleading. People may be able to buy insurance, but people can already do this now. The CBO says 31 million people will still be left “UNINSURED” under ObamaCare.

“CBO and JCT now expect that, as a result of those regulations, between 500,000 and 1 million fewer people will obtain health insurance coverage each year. In our current projections for 2023, the ACA reduces the number of people without health insurance by 25 million, leaving 31 million uninsured (compared with 30 million in our February estimate. “

— Source: Congressional Budget Office (CBO), P3 (highlight added).

ObamaCare does not solve the problem for people who are uninsured. In a separate report we noted how people with pre-existing conditions have already been maxed out. In other words, just about some 100,000 people are covered who have pre-existing health conditions. ObamaCare leaves out almost 17 million people with pre-existing health conditions [Report, Point 20].

[2] Affordability?
With a few possible exceptions, ObamaCare is expected to INCREASE insurance premiums, not decrease them. When you factor in the government subsidies to help pay for some people’s healthcare, this will increases the cost to taxpayers. Thus the true cost of ObamaCare are much higher than we are led to believe. The overall costs to taxpayers is currently estimated at $2.6 Trillion during just the next 10 years.

Those who don’t have or want insurance will be forced to pay for it or face an IRS penalty which starts at $95 in 2014, and increases each year thereafter.

“The minimum penalty/tax per person will start at $95 in 2014 (not to exceed $285 in 2014) . (The ObamaCare penalty increases through 2016.) The minimum penalty/tax in 2016 will be $695 per person and up to 3-times that per family. After 2016, these amounts will increase at the rate of inflation.”

— Sources: Business Insider and CNN

This Obama healthcare penalty is expected to affect hospitals and patients; the poor and the middle-class the hardest.

[3] ObamaCare Mystery Costs
We also don’t fully know how much coverage you get under ObamaCare and when does the insurance actually kick in? ObamaCare will have deductibles, which means you will pay out of pocket for your health-insurance costs plus your monthly premium until the deductible is met – each year.

Even after the deductible is met, you may still have to share in the burden of paying a percentage of the total costs of some services you may need. This could be 20 to 30% under current private insurance plans that have this feature in order to reduce your monthly premiums. Hope you have a boat load of money in case of surgery – assuming ObamaCare approves of the surgery, and tells you what doctor you can go to.


About the Author:
The author of this report previously was a state licensed insurance agent with multiple lines of insurance including Life, Variable Contracts, Accident and Health Insurance, (currently inactive in that business). More bio.

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