Is this headline really a surprise? No. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the one pointed out in this blog I found: http://healthpolicyandmarket.blogspot.com/2014/03/was-obamacare-worth-it-how-many-of.html#more
Yes, it would be easy to calculate and release the numbers of how many signed up (previously uninsured and paid all their premiums to date). But, just as it would have been easy to give us numbers from the first weeks when the ACA website crashed itself like no tomorrow, the only reason I can think of now for withholding the information is that it would make the government look bad.
I don't believe the ACA is anything more than a nod to insurance companies. You see, before the ACA was passed, the insurance companies were forced by congress to get rid of pre-existing condition exclusions and lifetime policy maximums. The insurance companies were upset and wanted more money, so they piled heaps into the democrats pockets to pass a law requiring everyone to get insurance or else pay a tax. They did this so they could sign up healthy people to help offset their costs removing policy limits and exclusions.
If congress truly wanted to reduce medical costs, they would impose limits on how much drug companies could charge for drugs and medical devices on patent (enough to make up the cost of researching it plus a reasonable profit). They would forbid television advertising of medicines.
Now, I not only want to know how many total new people out of the 200 in some odd million were actually insured by this law that is going to cost me 1% of my income in taxes next year, but I also want to know how many people have lost their insurance and how many people have lost their jobs because of it. I want to know what the real impact is - not the fluffy government numbers.
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