Lies of Obamacare: Sticker shock edition

One of the foundational lies of Obamacare was the great savings it would bring to the typical American family. According to the ludicrous number peddled by Obama, it would save families an average of $2,500 per year in premium costs. Politifact documents the promise here. Hey, and it will delivery better coverage than that junk you’ve been buying on your own without the assistance of the federal government.

Obama is still peddling these lies, as he did in Dallas yesterday at Temple Emanu-El: “You’ve all heard about the website woes? Nothing drives me more crazy than the fact that right now there’s great insurance to be had out there – choice and competition where people can save money for a better product – except too many folks haven’t been able to get through the website.”

Obama’s friendly hosts at Temple Emanu-El undoubtedly forgot to tell him it’s not right to speak falsely on the bimah. Rabbi Stern might usefully have taken a timeout to counsel Obama on the Ninth Commandment, but he seems to have moved on, as they say.

Obama to the contrary notwithstanding, the problems with the Obamacare Web site seem to have staved off stage 2 of the Great Obamacare Awakening. Avik Roy has been performing the job no one else will do. He is documenting how the laughably named Affordable Care Act makes health insurance more expensive. In his latest dispatch, Roy cites his comprehensive Manhattan Institute analysis of premiums under Obamacare for people who shop for coverage on their own:

Here’s what we learned. In the average state, Obamacare will increase underlying premiums by 41 percent. As we have long expected, the steepest hikes will be imposed on the healthy, the young, and the male. And Obamacare’s taxpayer-funded subsidies will primarily benefit those nearing retirement—people who, unlike the young, have had their whole lives to save for their health-care needs.

The Manhattan Institute has posted the Obamacare Impact Map illustrating state by state how Obamacare affects health insurance premiums for people who buy coverage on their own. Following up on the Manhattan Institute study, Carl Schramm writes in today’s Wall Street Journal “How Obamacare rips off the ‘young healthies.'” This might have something do with why the young are, so far, avoiding the beauties of Obamacare.

There will be much more to come. In the meantime, Roy’s work deserves attention before the deluge.

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