Romney Campaign Press Release - Another Obamacare Failure

"President Obama's trillion-dollar health care legislation was supposed to deliver affordable care for millions of Americans. Instead, Obamacare has delivered skyrocketing costs, failed programs, millions of Americans struggling to obtain insurance, and $716 billion in Medicare cuts that will impact today's seniors. As president, Mitt Romney will immediately repeal this disastrous law and replace it with reforms that empower individuals and free job creators from Obamacare's burdens." – Amanda Henneberg, Romney Campaign Spokesperson

Confusing Language In Obamacare Has Jeopardized The Availability Of Insurance Coverage For Millions Of Americans:

"Confusing Language" In Obamacare Has Jeopardized Insurance Coverage For "Millions Of Americans Living On Modest Incomes." "Confusing language in the health care reform law has raised the possibility that millions of Americans living on modest incomes may be unable to afford their employers' family policies and yet fail to qualify for government subsidies to buy their own insurance. ... The people left in the lurch would be those who had lower incomes but were not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. They would either have to pay more than they could afford for an employer's family plan or go without health insurance." (Editorial, "A Glitch In Health Care Reform," The New York Times, 8/25/12)

Working-Class Families May Be Left "Unable To Afford Family Coverage" But Outside Of Obamacare's Coverage Provisions. "Under rules proposed by the service, some working-class families would be unable to afford family coverage offered by their employers, and yet they would not qualify for subsidies provided by the law." (Robert Pear, "Ambiguity In Health Law Could Make Family Coverage Too Costly For Many," The New York Times, 8/11/12)

This Isn't Obamacare's First High-Profile Failure – Implementation Of The Law Has Repeatedly Failed To Live Up To Expectations:

The Obama Administration Pulled The Plug On The Community Living Assistance Services And Supports (CLASS) Program.  "The Obama administration says it is unable to go forward with a major program in the president's signature health care overhaul law — a new long-term care insurance plan. Officials said Friday the long-term care program has critical design flaws that can't be fixed to make it financially self-sustaining." (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, "Obama Pulls Plug On Part Of Health Overhaul Law," The Associated Press, 10/14/11)

• "HHS Officials Acknowledged That CLASS Fell Apart Simply Because It Was Too Flawed To Salvage." "CLASS is by far the biggest piece of health care reform to meet its end, and also the first to collapse entirely on its own. Republicans successfully repealed one much smaller provision, and the individual mandate could be struck down by the Supreme Court. But HHS officials acknowledged that CLASS fell apart simply because it was too flawed to salvage." (Sam Baker, "Obama's HHS Ends Controversial Program In Health Reform Law," The Hill, 10/14/11)

Obamacare Created Accountable Care Organizations That Were Called "So Complex" They Were "Unworkable." "President Barack Obama's main idea for getting quality health care at less cost was in jeopardy Wednesday after key medical providers called his administration's initial blueprint so complex it's unworkable." (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, "Obama Plan For Health Care Quality Dealt A Setback," The Associated Press, 5/11/11)

• "The Draft Rule Is So Awful That Even The Models For It Say They Won't Participate." "The Obama Administration is handing out waivers far and wide for its health-care bill, but behind the scenes the bureaucracy is grinding ahead writing new regulations. The latest example is the rule for Accountable Care Organizations that are supposed to be the crown jewel of cost-saving reform. One problem: The draft rule is so awful that even the models for it say they won't participate." (Editorial, "The Accountable Care Fiasco," The Wall Street Journal, 6/20/11)

Obamacare's ACO Proposal Was Called "Overly Prescriptive" And "Operationally Burdensome." "The regulations are 'overly prescriptive, operationally burdensome, and the incentives are too difficult to achieve to make this voluntary program attractive,' the medical group association said in its letter. One of the major problems seems to be that medical groups have little experience in managing insurance risk, and the administration blueprint rapidly exposes them to potential financial losses." (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, "Obama Plan For Health Care Quality Dealt A Setback," The Associated Press, 5/11/11)

Obamacare's High-Risk Pool Program Is Suffering From "Anemic Enrollment" And Increasing Costs. "When the health reform law's high-risk insurance pools launched last summer, there was a lot worry that the new coverage option would be swamped by demand from uninsured individual. Then, there was worry about too little demand: The insurance pools saw anemic enrollment, with some states enrolling just a few dozen subscribers. And now, there's a new worry: The high-risk pools attracted such expensive patients, with costly medical needs, that nearly a quarter are running short on cash."  (Sarah Kliff, "The High Risk Of High-Risk Pools," The Washington Post, 1/12/12)

But What Did Obamacare Achieve? It Cut Medicare By $716 Billion And Impacted Benefits For Today's Seniors:

According To The Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Obamacare Cuts $716 Billion From Medicare. (Congressional Budget Office, Letter To Speaker John Boehner, 7/24/12)

• President Obama's Senior Campaign Aide Has Bragged That President Obama "Achieved" $700 Billion In "Cuts In Medicare." CUTTER: "Well, you know ask the wealthy to pay a little bit more. Cut waste from the government. Reform Medicare. More than $300 billion in savings from Medicare. On top of the savings we've already achieved. You know I heard Mitt Romney deride the $700 billion cuts in Medicare that the president achieved through health care reform." (CBS's "Face The Nation," 8/12/12)

The Medicare Actuary Has Estimated 15% Of "Hospitals, Skilled Nursing Facilities, And Home Health Agencies" Will Be In The Red Before The Decade Is Over. "In the Office of the Actuary's April 22, 2010 memorandum on the estimated financial effects of the Affordable Care Act, we noted that by 2019 the update reductions would result in negative total facility margins for about 15 percent of hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies. This estimated percentage would continue to increase, reaching roughly 25 percent in 2030 and 40 percent by 2050. In practice, providers could not sustain continuing negative margins and, absent legislative changes, would have to withdraw from providing services to Medicare beneficiaries, merge with other provider groups, or shift substantial portions of Medicare costs to their non-Medicare, non-Medicaid payers." ("Projected Expenditures Under An Illustrative Scenario With Alternative Payment Updates To Medicare Providers," Center For Medicare & Medicaid Services, 5/13/11)

52 Percent Of Doctors Say Obamacare Will Compel Them To Close Or Significantly Restrict Their Practices To Medicare Patients. (Merritt Hawkins, "Health Reform and the Decline of Physician Private Practice," The Physicians Foundation, October 2010)

FactCheck.org: "The Promise That 'Benefits Will Remain The Same' Is Just As Fictional As The Town Of Mayberry..." "Currently, about 1 in every 4 Medicare beneficiary is enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. For many of them, the words in this ad ring hollow, and the promise that 'benefits will remain the same' is just as fictional as the town of Mayberry was when Griffith played the local sheriff." (Brooks Jackson, "Mayberry Misleads On Medicare," FactCheck.org, 7/31/10)