Posted by Kromey at 7:03pm Jun 15 '10Remember all our debates on health care reform? To sum up, I was vilified and labeled a right-wing nutter for pointing out things such as the fact that so very much of Obama's "reform" was going to be left up to regulations in the hands of just one person. In fact, that person is Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and the current draft of those regulations are shaping up to be a whole lot different from what we were promised:
Bottom line: Sebelius means to dictate what your insurance plan must look like almost from day one, no matter how you get your coverage.Hm, so perhaps I'm not a right-wing nutter after all, but a sooth-sayer!
Indeed, the draft regs envision more than half of all policies having to change within three years -- an unmistakable break with President's [sic] Obama's oft-repeated promise, "If people like their insurance, they will be able to keep it."
Yet that may be the least of the broken promises.
Ultimately, these rules force consumers to buy one of just four health policies -- which vary mostly only by trading off higher co-payments for lower premiums, while offering essentially the same actual benefits. In arguing for passage of the law, ObamaCare's defenders claimed the rules were aimed at health plans sold in the "exchanges." Oops: Now Sebelius is applying them to employer plans. Eventually, this would force all but the very wealthiest Americans into a single government-designed insurance scheme.
Critics warned that the Obama bill meant a federal takeover of health care, with Washington bureaucrats making core decisions about medical care. With ObamaCare taking shape, that's exactly what consumers are getting. Saying "we told you so" is no consolation to those who took the president at his word.
"I told you so" just isn't enough... - Kromey