The virtue of prudence dictates that one should heed the law of unintended consequences and seek to minimize the unwelcome outcomes that result from almost every endeavor. When one fails to do so, the damaging unintended consequences can be overwhelmingly; oftentimes to such a degree that any rational supporter of the endeavor must seriously consider whether it is worth the pains.
This is the story of Obamacare, literally “the law” of unintended consequences. And tragically, we’re only in year one of its implementation.
Most prominently, President Obama repeatedly promised that “if you like your plan, you can keep it.” However, tens of thousands of Americans have already been forced to change plans, the majority being seniors holding Medicare Advantage plans that Obamacare subjected to dramatic cuts. Starting in 2014, hundreds of thousands more will fall victim given that it is cheaper for businesses to drop employees onto the government-run exchange than continue providing them coverage.
Obamacare’s proponents proclaimed that it would reduce premiums and bend the cost curve downward. Yet this year has already produced a flurry of premium increases for almost every American, with one insurance company after another declaring the law was largely the reason. And this is with only a few of its provisions kicking-in; just wait until all the costly taxes, mandates, and regulations are implemented.
One of the other alleged achievements was ending discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. Yet four major insurance companies have exited the child-only insurance market in order to avoid being forced to provide a product from which they would have to take a loss.
Children are supposed to be able to stay on their parent’s insurance until 26, but somehow the Democrats forgot to include this extension for military children. It took nine months for them to legislatively fix this oversight.
These are just a few of the law’s unintended consequences. We could go on all day listing them, but you get the point: Obamacare is The Law of Unintended Consequences and America cannot afford its endless destruction.
Alex Cortes is the Chairman of Restore the Dream Foundation, whose initiative DeFundIt.org advocates for the de-funding of Obamacare.
The views expressed by guest bloggers on the Foundry do not necessarily reflect the views of the Heritage Foundation.