URL of the Original Posting Site: http://godfatherpolitics.com/23018/obamacare-support-at-all-time-low-on-eve-of-its-collapse/#ljpIpVF6xVrrxJvq.99

Searching through the media, it’s become very difficult to find positive reports on Obamacare that actually report the truth. There are still those reports that claim that the number of uninsured Americans is at an all-time low, but like reporting on unemployment, they purposely neglect the figures that undermine their report.

A few months ago I saw some reports that tried to say that voter support for Obamacare was up significantly. But that was before the announcements of much higher rates, the closing of at least one state run exchange and policy holders started getting outrageous bills from the federal government wanting them to pay back some or all of their federal subsidies.

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll reveals that only 39% of registered voters still back the Affordable Care Act. This ties the record low support from back in April of 2012. A year ago, only 48% of registered voters said they opposed the Affordable Care Act and now that figure has increased to 54% opposition.

Perhaps the weakening support and growing opposition has been sparked by the rate increases being requested in many states as reported by Michael D. Tanner:

“Already we’ve seen requests for increases for individual plans as high as;

• 64.8 percent in Texas,
• 61 percent in Pennsylvania,
• 51.6 percent in New Mexico,
• 36.3 percent in Tennessee,
• 30.4 percent in Maryland,
• 25 percent in Oregon, and
• 19.9 percent in Washington.

Those increases would come on top of premium increases last year that were 24.4 percent above what they would have been without Obamacare, according to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. At the same time, deductibles for the cheapest Obamacare plans now average about $5,180 for individuals and $10,500 for families.”

Another sign that Obamacare is failing and on the verge of collapse is how few enrollees there really are, especially compared to the goals set by the White House. Again, turning to Tanner:

“New evidence also suggests that Obamacare is struggling to meet its goals for covering the uninsured. According to a report in Investor’s Business Daily, the Obama administration estimates that roughly 10.2 million people have enrolled in Obamacare plans and paid at least one month’s premium. This meets the White House’s revised sign-up goal announced late last year, though it falls below the Congressional Budget Office’s earlier projections. The CBO had originally projected some 12 million sign-ups through 2015, later lowering that estimate to 11 million. So, while we should recognize that Obamacare has significantly increased coverage, there clearly is a long way to go.”

“A very long way, in fact. The CBO still hopes for 21 million enrollees next year, which would mean more than doubling current sign-up levels. Anyone see that happening? But failure to meet those numbers would mean that Obamacare would continue to flirt with the possibility of an adverse-selection ‘death spiral,’ which could take down the entire insurance market. Already, insurance companies are warning that exchange enrollment is weighted too heavily toward sicker and older patients. And the Republican Congress is unlikely to renew bailouts designed to protect insurance companies from such adverse selection.”

“Of course, these numbers do not count the nearly 7 million people who signed up for Medicaid because of Obamacare’s expansion of the program. But given the increasing evidence that Medicaid provides dubious value in terms of health outcomes, how this will affect federal and state budgets remains an open question. To cite just one example, getting poor people enrolled in Medicaid was supposed to reduce the strain on overburdened emergency rooms, by steering patients toward primary and preventive care. But the low physician-reimbursement rates under Medicaid mean that few physicians will treat Medicaid patients. As a result, emergency-room visits have actually increased under Obamacare.

“Very soon the Supreme Court will rule on Obamacare’s subsidies. But for the law as a whole, the verdict is already in. By almost any measure, Obamacare is a failure.”

If you search the media, you will find far more reports echoing the words of Tanner, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, than echoing the hollow chatter of die-hard loyalists like Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. No matter what they keep trying to tell us, the facts indicate that Obamacare is on the verge of collapse due to extremely high premiums and deductibles, fewer subsidies and fewer enrollees. The program had to have a high number of young healthy people enroll and the opposite is true. The nails in the Obamacare coffin are being hammered in and will soon be ready for burial. Then it’s up to the Republicans to come up with a real workable and affordable solution.