A Bad Week For Obamacare

Remember when Nancy Pelosi said we’d have to pass the healthcare bill to find out what’s in it?

Well, it’s passed and what we’ve been finding out this week is not good…and it’s still only Wednesday.

First, Politico reported that the Obama White House is considering a “mandate-plus” to help pay for the budget-busting law.

“The individual mandate penalties will be pretty weak as they are phased in over two years — only $95 when they start in 2014, much less than it costs to buy insurance. And yet, everyone with pre-existing conditions will have to be accepted for coverage right away.

 

“That’s why insurance companies are telling the administration the mandate won’t be enough for the first two years. They want more incentives — such as a late enrollment fee — to get healthy people to sign up quickly. Without getting the healthy folks in, the fear is that everyone’s health insurance premiums could shoot through the roof when all those sick people get their coverage.”

Then, President Obama’s former healthcare advisor—and brother of Rahm Emanuel—admitted that insurers are raising premiums.

And now this morning, news out of Pennsylvania that a southwestern Pennsylvania hospital will stop delivering babies due to the costs associated with Obamacare.

“The Windber Medical Center, about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, is losing two obstetricians and two others are shifting their focus more to gynecology.

 

“Hospital officials say the population of women of child-bearing age is dropping and that the number of births the hospital would be called upon to perform isn’t enough for it to provide the service in the face of lower reimbursements under the federal Affordable Care Act.”

After all that, you’d think that Democrats would be rethinking their government takeover of healthcare, yet they seem to be doubling down. House Democrats are introducing a bill to add the “public option” onto Obamacare.

The Public Option Deficit Reduction Act, H.R. 261, was introduced by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), along with 44 other House Democrats.

Congress considered the creation of a government-run healthcare plan during the debate over the healthcare law, but it was eventually removed of the final bill that passed in 2010. Schakowsky says bringing it back would help reduce insurance premiums.

 

“Obamacare is already helping millions of Americans get the health care they need, but it can be made even better,” she said. “The Public Option Deficit Reduction Act will give health care consumers more choice and lower their premiums.”

 

Her bill would set up a government-run plan that would provide premiums that are 5 to 7 percent lower than private insurance plans. This, she said, would “put pressure on all insurers to lower their premiums in order to compete.”

After all the negative consequences of Obamacare, Democrats are doubling-down on their government takeover of healthcare. It just shows that they simply believe that more and more bureaucracy is the answer.