RNC Women

Throughout the debate over ObamaCare, President Obama and Democrat leaders in Congress peddled the fiction that the federal takeover of health care would not force the American people to lose coverage they already had and were satisfied with. 

As the bill is being implemented, more and more people are finding that claim to be false.  As an editorial in the Manchester Union-Leader shows, private health plans across the country may find it makes more sense for their bottom lines to drop Medicare Advantage plans because of provisions in ObamaCare.  The editorial was spurred in response to a recent decision by a Massachusetts health plan that will force some 22,000 people to change their health coverage. 

We have known for some time that the president’s claim that people would not be forced into different coverage was false.  In June of last year, President Obama said the government would not force people to change coverage.  In response, Politifact.com said, “It's not realistic for Obama to make blanket statements that 'you' will be able to 'keep your health care plan.' It seems like rhetoric intended to soothe people that health care reform will not be overly disruptive.”

The rhetoric over ObamaCare has never matched reality.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously claimed that ObamaCare would create 400,000 jobs “almost immediately.”  Yet since it was enacted into law, unemployment has continued to linger at nearly 10 percent and about 15 million Americans remain unemployed. 

Far from helping alleviate unemployment, ObamaCare only made things worse.  The bill contains job killing tax hikes and penalties, including one provision that effectively penalizes small businesses from growing larger than 50 employees.  These portions of ObamaCare, along with the Democrat Congress’ refusal to head off the coming tax hikes at the end of this year, are causing small business owners to wait to invest and grow their companies. 

The Democrats’ failure on economic policy, and the aggressive steps they took to enact ObamaCare into law by any means necessary, have slowed economic growth precisely when the American people need relief quickly.   America’s working families don’t need more empty rhetoric from the Democrats in Congress.  They need a new Republican majority that will provide real tax relief and the courage to begin the process of repealing the job killing provisions in ObamaCare.