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People can keep touting the good clauses that people actually like, and devote a whole corner of the Internet to 30 million heart-warming anecdotes if they like. And we can ignore the CBOs estimate that between 7 and 20 million people will now LOSE coverage (originally estimated at 4 million).

But the fact is the ACA is designed only to band-aid a mass of individual cases and NOT address real costs in any meaningful way (and instead does the opposite). Forget costs going down, but it would have to be a miracle if costs actually don’t go up more than without the law, along with premiums in general (REAL ones, accounting for subsidies), regardless of SOME having lower ones. And those costs to be fair must include taxation impacts and changes in hiring practices across the country necessitated thereof.

I’m not denying the value of those blessed coverages; I’m just not whistling away all else to pretend that makes everything justified, or a step forward IF both sides of the sheet are tallied. The bureaucratic waste alone is of biblical proportions, and is swept under the carpet as the usual necessity of government — to the tune of close to $800 BILLION in extra taxes and possibly more than $6 TRILLION in deficit spending. Nothing new, but the “good stuff” is the carrot to justify any stick they want.

But in the (what I consider highly unrealistic) chance we’re better off in the broad view and not just those entitled to be covered, I will happily eat crow, even if my own rates or taxes slide my family closer to poverty.

On the other hand, many of those who supported the law seem to already have contingency plans to blame the anticipated failure on delays (some imposed by the Left side of the aisle), and various small aspects in which state governments may not enact every letter of the law.

Like everything else these days, I think the show to watch will not be if it works or not, but the rhetoric over whose fault it is for the negative impacts as if they hadn’t been warned, and what arguments will be used to rationalize it was a good idea no matter how bad it might get.

I think the most evil thing about the ACA is that BECAUSE it benefits a lot of people and families in a very personal way, it is able to leverage that against any cost or negative impact.

Some references:

  • http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324874204578441032081716170.html
  • CBO Report: http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43082
  • Sole Proprietors losing insurance: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/creative-destruction_751425.html#
  • 500K Children: http://reason.com/24-7/2013/09/23/family-glitch-could-leave-500000-childre
  • Losing existing plans: http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/DA6J4QKG4
  • 7 Million, Deficits  http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/feb/5/obama-health-law-will-cost-7-million/
  • People who can’t keep their plans: http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/28/ten-states-where-obamacare-wipes-out-existing-health-care-plans/
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