Obamacare is a Bust

Not even a year old, and already Obamacrap is a bust. Since the legislation became law, most carriers have ceased to issue policies with maternity benefits, some have stopped writing any business, most have stopped writing child only health insurance (except where bullied into it by local mandates), premiums have risen more drastically than they would have, over half the country wants Obamacrap repealed and depending on your perspective, the elections didn't go so well.

But other than that it seems to be working fine.

One provision in Obamacrap that still flies under the radar was one of the raison d'etre for Obamacrap in the first place.

Specifically, the mean health insurance companies were denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.

Enter Obamaman to the rescue. With a swish of his cape and super powers He almost singlehandedly made it possible for those with a pre-existing condition to obtain coverage through a national health insurance risk pool.

Well, it is available provided you have been denied coverage and have been uninsured for at least 6 months.

Sounds like a used car salesman doesn't it?

"Yes, you can own this beauty, even if others have turned you down due to bad credit. No, you can't have it today, but come back in 6 months and it will be waiting for you."

So how well has the Obamapool worked?

According to the Washington Post, in the last few months the number of people covered by Obamapool have increased by 50%.

And the crowd cheered.

In November there were 8,000 in the 6 month old pool. That number jumped to 12,500 by the first of February.

What's wrong with that you might ask?

Last spring, the Medicaid program's chief actuary forecast that 375,000 Americans would have joined new high-risk pools by the end of 2010.

Gosh, can the DC bean counter for Medicaid possibly have miscalculated?

Why would those who were denied coverage by a mean insurance company not accept free health insurance from the taxpayer?

Possibly because it isn't free.

It is very reasonably priced, but it isn't free.

The program is temporary, because, starting in 2014, the law will forbid insurers to reject customers based on whether they are healthy or sick.

Well if those who qualify can't afford a highly subsidized plan now, what will happen in 2014 when premiums are considerably higher due to the "guaranteed issue" mandate?

Late last year, administration officials said the plans' relative lack of popularity reflected early growing pains; they predicted that enrollment would grow swiftly as more people found out that they exist.

So the imperial federal government creates this great plan but is hiding their light under a basket.

They did a better job with Cars for Clunkers. In fact, the program did so well they ran out of money in a few weeks and had to find more Chinese federal dollars to fund the program. When the dust settled, over 700,000 Americans (possibly some not even citizens) took advantage of this wonderful program.

Let's recap.

The government sold 12,500 health insurance policies in 8 months and 700,000 cars in 6 weeks.

Doesn't seem like they are very good at selling insurance. Makes you wonder why they want so desperately to get in that business.

Perhaps they should stick to selling cars.