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Romney Campaign Press Release - President Obama's Middle-Class Promise Gap On Health Care

July 02, 2012

"President Obama campaigned for office on a very specific promise to decrease health care premiums by $2,500. By his own standard, the President has failed and middle-class families are the ones suffering the consequences. It's time for President Obama to take responsibility for his middle-class promise gap. And it's time for a new direction and new president who will finally deliver change for struggling middle-class families." —Andrea Saul, Romney Campaign Spokesperson

Click Here To View The Latest Middle-Class Promise Gap Infographic

President Obama's Middle-Class Promise Gap On Health Care Has Resulted In $4,893 In Higher Premiums For Families:

Candidate Obama, In February 2008: "We're Going To Work With You To Lower Your Premiums By $2,500 Per Family Per Year. ... We Will Do It By The End Of My First Term As President Of The United States Of America." OBAMA: "If you are ready for change, then we can stop talking about the outrage of 47 million people without health insurance and start doing something about it. ... If you've got health insurance, we're going to work with you to lower your premiums by $2,500 per family per year. And we will not wait 20 years from now to do it or 10 years from now to do it. We will do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States of America." (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks, Columbus, OH, 2/27/08)

Under President Obama, Family Health Care Premiums Have Increased $2,393 During President Obama's First Three Years In Office. Average annual family premiums have increased from $12,680 in 2008 to $15,073 in 2011. ("Employer Health Benefits, 2011 Annual Survey, Exhibit 1.11" Kaiser Family Foundation, 2011)

Despite President Obama's Promises, Health Care Premiums Aren't "Going To Go Down." "The video released by the Obama campaign Thursday has a graph that shows health insurance premiums climbing and climbing — way above general inflation. Giving families and businesses relief was a big part of Obama's sales pitch for health care reform. ... But no matter what happens with the law, the line on that graph isn't going to go down." (David Nather, "Health Care Reform: 4 Inconvenient Truths," Politico, 3/16/12)

  • Obamacare Has Made Health Care Even "Less Affordable" And Has Caused "Insurance Premiums To Rise" Even Higher. "At the moment, the new law is making health care slightly less affordable. Independent health care experts say the law has caused some insurance premiums to rise. As we wrote in October, the new law has caused about a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family plans because of requirements for increased benefits. Last year's premium increases cast even more doubt on another promise the president has made - that the health care law would 'lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.'" (D'Angelo Gore, "Promises, Promises," Factcheck.org, 1/4/12)

Increasing Premiums Aren't President Obama's Only Broken Promise On Health Care — Obamacare Created A New Government Bureaucracy With Control Over Medicare:

President Obama Promised To Not Give Government "More Control Over Health Care In America." OBAMA: "I don't believe we should give government or the insurance companies more control over health care in America." (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Fairfax, VA, 3/19/10)

The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) Is "The New ObamaCare Bureaucracy With Vast Powers To Control Health Care And Health Markets." "The vehicle is a bill from Tennessee Republican Phil Roe that would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, the new ObamaCare bureaucracy with vast powers to control health care and health markets starting next year." (Editorial, "Independent Payment Advisory Revolt," The Wall Street Journal, 3/9/12)

Obamacare's IPAB Empowers A Bureaucracy To Impose Judgments Through "Medicare's Price Controls On All U.S. Medicine." "Instead, supposedly independent experts will run a battery of small experiments, figure out which ones 'work' and then impose them through Medicare's price controls on all U.S. medicine. When health spending in a given year exceeds a budget benchmark, as it always does and will, the 15 White House-appointed wise men will work their miracles." (Editorial, "Independent Payment Advisory Revolt," The Wall Street Journal, 3/9/12)

And Obamacare Is Hitting Americans With Higher Taxes And Harming Job Creators With New Impediments To Hiring:

Nearly Three-Quarters Of Small-Business Owners Blame Obamacare For Impeding Job Creation. "As part of the explanation for the general economic pessimism, 78 percent of small businesses believe that taxation, regulation and legislation from Washington make it harder for businesses to hire more employees — and 74 percent blame the recent health care reforms passed by the Obama administration for creating an impediment to job creation." (Tim Mak, "Chamber Poll: Small Biz Blames D.C.," Politico, 1/18/12)

Obamacare Contains "The Largest Tax Increase Since 1993." "Keep in mind that Mr. Obama has already signed the largest tax increase since 1993. While everyone focuses on the Bush tax rates that expire after 2012, other tax increases are already set to hit the economy thanks to the 2010 Affordable Care Act." (Editorial, "Taxes Upon Taxes Upon...," The Wall Street Journal, 7/11/11)

  • The Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office Estimated That Obamacare Will Raise Approximately $500 Billion In Taxes Over Its First 10 Years. (CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf, Testimony, U.S. House Of Representatives, 3/30/11)

Obamacare Could Force Businesses In The Medical Device Industry To Shift More Than 40,000 Jobs Overseas. "The medical device industry says it could lose 10 percent of its U.S. workforce because of a tax created by healthcare reform. The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) released a report Wednesday that says device-makers might ship 43,000 jobs overseas once the tax takes effect in 2013." (Sam Baker, "Device-Makers Say Tax Will Cost 43,000 US Jobs," The Hill, 9/7/11)

  • "Diana Furchtgott-Roth, A Senior Fellow At The Hudson Institute, Said Device Firms Are Already Moving Their Operations To Other Countries And That The Trend Will Accelerate If The Device Tax Is Left In Place." (Sam Baker, "Device-Makers Say Tax Will Cost 43,000 US Jobs," The Hill, 9/7/11)

Mitt Romney, Romney Campaign Press Release - President Obama's Middle-Class Promise Gap On Health Care Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/301730

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