Did Americans Want the Reforms in Obamacare?

AND HAS THE MEDIA BEEN HONEST ABOUT THEM?

by Sharon Rondeau

(Dec. 23, 2013) — The Washington Post reported on Monday that the enrollment deadline for federal Obamacare plans has been “quietly” extended by a day, through December 24 at 11:59 p.m.

In its reportage of the extension, of which insurers evidently have not been apprised, The Post claimed that an overhaul of the health care system was “long-awaited” by the American people.

As of press time, the Healthcare.gov website had not been updated to reflect the most recent change.

In 2009, before the law’s passage, many did not want a new program entailing massive government spending given the economic crisis of 2008 and existing entitlement expenditures at the time.

Today, the failed Obamacare website has cost more than $1 billion and still does not function as touted.

In 2009, some believed that a national health care program was unconstitutional.

In 2010, three Columbia University professors wrote that as of 2009, “public opinion…appeared to swing away from health care reform,” citing “dissatisfaction with ‘Obamacare’ in particular.”  While certain responses from the public indicated a desire for change in some areas of health care, other responses showed a “less favorable” opinion of a nationalized health care program or one in which taxes would rise.  The researchers concluded that “On balance, then, Obama has faced a public opinion climate similar to [Hillary] Clinton’s in 1994” (page 2).

In August 2009, “Harris Interactive” poll chairman Humphrey Taylor said, among other points made, that “There are many things that many people do not want.  They do not want to pay much higher taxes and out-of-pocket costs.  They don’t want to damage the economy or increase unemployment.  They dislike the idea of rationing and oppose anything that they think might reduce the quality of their care or limit their choices.”

Others said that the Obamacare plan would encourage abortion, particularly of babies found to be disabled while still in utero.

As of December 19 of this year, The Washington Post contended that “death panels” are not a component of Obamacare, while ridiculing a group of otolaryngologists surveyed who responded that death panels exist as a result of the law.  On January 18, 2011, The Post’s Glenn Kessler stated that the claim that “Medicare benefits will be cut–and payments will be cut to Medicare doctors” was “another GOP attack line during the campaign.”

At the time, Kessler stated that “Democrats quickly dropped the provision after the firestorm created by Palin’s assertion, even after it was proven to be factually incorrect.”

As of this writing, three left-leaning news sources are sarcastically asserting that some doctors believe that “death panels” exist within Obamacare.

Today, mainstream reporters who openly support Obama and congressional Democrats have admitted that “death panels” are part of the health care law.  In March of last year, the House of Representatives vote to repeal that provision of Obamacare, but it was not taken up by the Senate.

In January, a writer for Forbes said that death panels were “a myth.”  In October of last year, another Forbes columnist said that “The reality is that the IPAB represents an unprecedented shift of power from individual Americans and their families to a centralized authority, a controlling Board of political appointees that is virtually unaccountable, and destined to become President Obama’s version of the NICE rationing board in Britain’s socialized medical system, the National Health Service.”

Kessler calls himself “the Fact-Checker.”

In 2011, the Obama regime reportedly removed a reference in the law to “end-of-life planning.”  The New York Times reported that “The provision for advance care planning was not included in the final health care overhaul signed into law by President Obama. Health policy experts assumed that the proposal had been set aside — until a similar idea showed up in the final Medicare regulation in November.”

Earlier this year, more information on the “Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB)” contained in the law which will “have the authority to limit which specialists you see, what treatments are available, and in some cases, whether you’re eligible for care at all.”

A physician writing for CNS News described the IPAB as “15 unelected, appointed bureaucrats whose task it is to cut the growth of Medicare spending, and the cuts they are mandated to make will be deep.”  On August 19, 2012, former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs stated to Fox News’s Chris Wallace that the IPAB comprises “medical professionals.”  “They are people that we trust to make medical decisions,” Gibbs added.

As a result of Obamacare’s implementation, payments to doctors for Medicare patients have been reduced, and thousands of physicians have been fired by insurers across the country.

After having correctly quoted Politifact.com as having labeled Sarah Palin’s claim of death panels as the 2009 “Lie of the Year,” Politifact has now given the same award to Obama for 2013 after his “If you like your plan, you can keep it” promise was broken, to the dismay of approximately 6,000,000 Americans.  Because premiums and deductibles are often significantly higher than those which individual insureds were paying for their now-canceled plans, many cannot find suitable replacement policies.

UPI reports that increases in premiums stem from “higher medical expenses,” not the health care law.

On Thursday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced another change, perhaps the 14th unilateral change made without Congress’s input, to allow those who have lost their plans to invoke a “hardship” provision in the law which will exempt them from either buying insurance for 2014 or paying the fine for failing to do so.

The mainstream media is now stating that the latest changes make for “an uneven playing field.”

Today, more Americans oppose the law than support it as its provisions affect them personally.  Because of higher premiums, many could be left without insurance, including the seriously ill.

On Monday, ABC News reported that “if you get insurance through your employer, you don’t have to worry about any of this. Obamacare is mainly for people and small groups who pay for their own insurance,” but tens of millions with employer-sponsored plans are also predicted to lose their plans next year.

The Washington Post and other outlets has reported that 35% of Americans now approve of the health care law.