E-Newsletter: November 5, 2013

Statement

Dear Friend,

Here is a quick update with the latest in what is happening in Washington and around Alabama's 4th District. As always, please let me know whenever I can be of assistance. Keep in touch and remember to follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Also, for updated information check out my virtual office and encourage your friends and family to sign-up for my monthly e-newsletter, the Aderholt Address.

Sincerely,

Robert B. Aderholt
Member of Congress

Five Things That President Misrepresented to America About Obamacare

As October has come to a close, we see new evidence every day confirming our many concerns with President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Amidst the chaos that has surrounded the rollout of Obamacare, many of these broken promises have escaped scrutiny from the national media and been overshadowed by the dysfunction of Obamacare's website, HealthCare.gov. Below is a list of broken promises told by President Obama and the Democrat leadership when pitching Obamacare to the American public. What the President also offered at the time as "facts" have turned out to be inaccurate, or even undermined by his own political appointees who wrote the regulations by which Obamacare is implemented.

1. President Obama's pledge that, "if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan" is perhaps one of the most memorable, and false of his presidency to date. To be exact, President Obama said and I remember it quite well, "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what." He said almost these exact words repeatedly in press conferences, town hall meetings, and interviews -- both before and after the bill was signed into law. Yet in past weeks hundreds of thousands of Americans have already received letters from their insurance companies notifying them that their current policies have already been cancelled and will not be renewed. Additionally, the President's appointees wrote regulations deliberately making many existing plans illegal under the Act. To make matters worse, some of these same individuals are discovering that they are facing anywhere from 100 to 250 percent increase in the cost of their healthcare coverage.

Recent studies estimate that roughly 16 million of the 20 million Americans who purchase their insurance independently on the U.S. individual health insurance market may lose their coverage. An additional 4 million Americans currently covered through their work are predicted to lose insurance benefits as well. This means that even if the Obama administration reaches its prediction of providing coverage for 30 million of the 48 million uninsured Americans, it could very well also result in the cancellation of policies for 20 million or more who currently have coverage. These individuals could then be forced to go onto the healthcare exchange to obtain new coverage or pay the penalty for not having coverage.

2. On numerous occasions, President Obama told us that his healthcare plan would lower insurance premiums by an average of $2,500 per year for the typical American family. Evidence is showing that this could not be further from the truth. Studies and analyses from the Congressional Budget Office, independent actuaries, state insurance commissioners, health plans, benefit consultants, and others have reached the same conclusion: Obamacare will significantly increase premiums. According to a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, in anticipation of the roll out of the new healthcare exchanges, average premiums for family coverage (defined in the report as coverage for a family of four) have already increased from $13,375 in 2009 to $16,531 in 2013. The cost for family coverage grew by $2,976 during President Obama's first term alone, but that's nothing compared to what experts are projecting. Studies show that Obamacare will, in its first ten years alone, increase healthcare spending by roughly $621 billion dollars above the amounts that Americans would have spent without it.

3. Just days before HeathCare.gov was to be rolled out, President Obama said, "Starting on Tuesday, every American can visit HealthCare.gov to find out what's called the insurance marketplace for your state,"…. "Now, this is real simple. It's a website where you can compare and purchase affordable health insurance plans, side-by-side, the same way you shop for a plane ticket on Kayak, the same way you shop for a TV on Amazon." A full month after the failed launch of HealthCare.gov, the website that is the primary vehicle for enrollment into the healthcare marketplace set up by Obamacare, the Obama administration has still been unable to address the many problems, crashes and delays plaguing the website. Despite more than three years of preparation and $634 million of taxpayer money spent developing the site, the "minor glitches," as described by President Obama, leave HealthCare.gov all but broken, making it next to impossible for Americans to enroll in Obamacare. The Administration anticipates that the website should be fully functional by the end of November, leaving about 15 days for individuals who need coverage in place by January 1, 2014 to sign up who need their plans to be processed by December 15 and in place by the new year. The primary contract to build this website was sole-sourced to CGI Federal, the U.S. arm of Canadian-based CGI Group, instead of awarded by competition; there has been no explanation by the Administration regarding why there was no competition.

4. The Obama administration has promised us repeatedly that Obamacare would create millions of new jobs. The only new jobs I have seen created are those recently hired to clean up the mess and fix the broken website, HealthCare.gov. The President recently told an audience in Largo, Maryland that, "There is no widespread evidence that the Affordable Care Act is hurting jobs," he said.

Contrary to this claim, Investor's Business Daily recently reported that as a direct result of Obamacare, more than 300 companies have either eliminated jobs or reduced full time jobs to part time jobs. This news comes as hospitals across the country are also laying off staff and reducing work hours.

5. Finally, we were told repeatedly that Obamacare would not increase the deficit and furthermore, that its price tag would be around $900 billion over 10 years. "Now, add it all up, and the plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years," President Obama said. But the latest reports from the Congressional Budget Office and Government Accountability Office show that the healthcare overhaul is projected to cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, a $820 billion accounting error, and will increase the long-term federal deficit by $6.2 trillion.

The Affordable Care Act is one of the most potentially damaging pieces of legislation that has come out of Washington in years. I have spoken out against this legislation since day one, and you can rest assured that I will continue to do what I can to work against it until it is defunded, substantially changed or completely repealed.

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