While the media grasp to find any positive stories from Obamacare’s wreckage, journalists can’t escape the mounting negative news. Take New Hampshire small business owner Nancy Clark, who last year was featured in a White House video blog. She proudly proclaimed support for Obamacare, calling it “Nancycare,” according to CBS News.
But “things haven’t gone quite according to plan for Nancycare,” the CBS News video reports. Clark’s insurance provider informed her this year that it would increase premiums by 39 percent starting in 2014, which would amount to a $30,000 cost for her business.
Clark canceled the insurance she offered for her eight employees and turned to Obamacare—but all she and her workers received was “one problem after another,” CBS News notes. About half of the employees have enrolled so far.
Clark wasn’t the only small business owner dropping insurance for employees because it became too expensive. Virginia Beach business owner Betsy Atkinson also canceled insurance for her employees because the new plans were too costly.
This is the next wave of likely disaster for Obamacare: Employees with job-based coverage losing their current health insurance as employers drop them and chose to pay a less-expensive penalty. Estimates have put number of Americans losing their employer-based coverage and being forced onto Obamacare’s federal health exchanges as high as 80 million.
Perhaps, these increasing impact stories are why most Americans dread the effect Obamacare will have on their lives. A new Gallup poll found that while most Americans (69 percent) report they have not been personally impacted yet by Obamacare, a plurality (41 percent) believe Obamacare will make their health care situation worse in the future.
Rather than hope that a government takeover of the health sector can work, it’s time to stop Obamacare and implement common-sense reforms that can provide small businesses, families, and patients with real solutions for their personal health needs.
