Obamacare: America's Unhealthy Insurance Scheme

After the president declared Obamacare a roaring success, the nation's media turned a blind eye to reports chronicling the unraveling of the largest government boondoggle in history.  Mr. Obama's signature health reform plan is wallowing in billions of fraud, mismanagement and insolvency.

The bloated federal bureaucracy paid for by taxpayers to oversee the implementation of Obamacare is an administrative muck up.  Nearly every aspect of the health plan designed to cover the uninsured has been an utter failure.  Moreover, costs have exceeded even the rosiest predictions.  

When the health plan was signed into law in 2010, reports showed 14.4 percent of all adults were uninsured. Today nearly 13 percent (12.9%)of adults have no insurance despite billions in government spending. More than 32 million Americans remain uninsured.       

The president has claimed 17.6 million Americans have signed up for health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  About five million of those Americans previously had no insurance. That means the overwhelming majority were forced to give up their previous policy.   

Even the 17.6 million number is dubious.  Survey data from the global consulting firm McKinsey shows that 16 percent of those who enroll never obtain insurance.  That means the number of Americans covered under Obamacare is closer to 13.7 million, far short of its original goal. 

For those meager results, taxpayers will pay almost double the administration's under inflated cost estimate.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected costs over the next decade will top $1.993 trillion. The president promised costs would not exceed $900 billion over 10 years.  

To make matters worse, there have been a slew of investigations by government watchdog groups excoriating the government apparatus for its handling of the implementation and operation of the insurance program.  

In one of the most recent reports, the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General documented the dismal performance of tax-funded insurance cooperatives that were created in 2011 at a cost of $2 billion.  The co-ops were supposed to compete with private health insurance firms.

The inspector's findings were a searing indictment of the government scheme.  Seven co-ops have shuttered their doors.  Of the remaining 23 co-ops, 22 are in deep financial trouble.  As a result, more co-ops will soon be forced to close because of insolvency.

Another audit by the same inspector general forced a stunning admission from the Health and Human Services Department, the agency entrusted with overseeing Obamacare.  The department could not verify the accuracy of more than $2.8 billion it paid out in subsidies to newly insured Americans.

The IG investigation found HHS "did not have systems in place to ensure that financial assistance payments were made on behalf of confirmed enrollees in the correct amounts."  Translation:  the agency had no idea if those receiving subsidies met the income, citizenship or tax requirements.

The Obamacare state exchanges have fared only slightly better than the co-ops.  Many of the exchanges have floundered, suffering systemic failures, cost-overruns and slipshod controls.  More than $5.5 billion has been doled out to the problem-plagued exchanges. 

The independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently conducted a field test to determine the viability of enrollment controls in federal and state exchanges.  In its covert operation, GAO delegates applied for coverage through the exchanges.

The GAO applicants used fictitious Social Security numbers, fraudulent household income data and fake citizenship information.  Ten of its 11 undercover operatives were able to receive Obamacare subsidies and tax credits from the exchanges using the bogus data.  

It should came as no surprise that in August of this year the HHS Inspector General found that the website Healthcare.gov was failing to verify applicants' Social Security numbers, citizenship and household income.  

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration conducted its own investigation this year and revealed that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was failing to verify whether individuals had purchased mandated health coverage before distributing tax credits.  

Even for this government, the level of dereliction, bureaucratic bungling and incompetency is epic. Yet the president and his media sycophants continue to unabashedly propagandize the success of the health care law, ignoring the flawed implementation of the complex reform.  

For all these issues, Obamacare has victimized the very people it was supposed to help.  Millions of Americans have had their insurance plans cancelled, lost access to their doctors, been socked with skyrocketing premiums and been forced to accept higher insurance deductibles.

This year alone rates for insurance sold through the government website are expected to increase an average of 7.5 percent for coverage in 2016. Consumers in some states will pay even higher rates. For example, insurance prices in Idaho are expected to spike 30 percent.  

The president has left a fetid trail of broken promises on his way to proclaiming Obamacare an unqualified success.  Now that the truth has been exposed, it is clear the reform has been a disaster. However, Americans are stuck with the tax bill and saddled with shoddy health coverage.

The next president must halt the charade and end resuscitation of the terminally ill health plan.