Today is the official second anniversary of Obamacare’s signing, but there’s little to celebrate. The Heritage Foundation’s re-launched version of “Obamacare in Pictures: Visualizing the Effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” shows through new charts and graphs Obamacare’s far-reaching negative effects on Americans.
Here are just a few examples of what the series reveals about Obamacare:
It grows dependence on government. Obamacare expands government control over health care by expanding Medicaid and creating new government exchanges. By the year 2020, more than 50 percent of Americans will be enrolled in a government-run health care program.
It hurts jobs and the economy. Obamacare may be the cause of a slowed private-sector recovery. After it was signed into law, job growth in the private sector stalled. Also, Obamacare contains 17 new taxes on Americans that will total $502 billion between 2010 and 2019. Several of these will hit the middle class.
It threatens Americans’ existing coverage. Despite President Obama’s promise, “if you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan,” there are many provisions in Obamacare that will cause Americans to lose existing coverage. Some estimates show the loss of employer coverage will be as high as 35 million people.
It undermines state authority. Obamacare pushes approximately 20 million additional people onto state Medicaid rolls. Obamacare in Pictures shows the burden of the expansion in the increased Medicaid population and cost to each state. Meanwhile, 26 states have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare’s individual mandate and forced Medicaid expansion.
To see the slideshow in its entirety, click here. Then, to read more about Obamacare’s many failures to date and the growing reasons for its repeal, check out The Obamacare Two-Year Checkup: More Reasons for Repeal.
