Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes at his blog, the Hutchinson Report News, that while glitches have dogged the rollout of Obamacare, the importance of these problems in the "overall initial implementation of Obamacare has been wildly overblown."
The GOP controlled House Ways and Means is the first of the three GOP congressional committees "investigating" Obamacare to try and pulverize it—again. GOP committee members pounded hard on the stock GOP hit points; it's a mess because of a lousy computer system, thousands have gotten sticker shock after getting cancellation notices, there's big sneaky insurance price hikes on the way, there are the subsidies that don't subsidize, and the demand to oust HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The capper is that President Obama supposedly blatantly lied when he promised no one would lose their current health insurance plan due to Obamacare.
The GOP hit points are based on the usual mix of lies, half-truths, and wild distortions. The computer glitch is a fact. But its importance in the overall initial implementation of Obamacare has been wildly overblown. Thousands have in fact searched and signed up for various health plans both online and through the state exchanges. Millions more will sign up online when the glitches are corrected, and they will be. The overwhelming majority of policy holders have either workplace plans and grandfathered polices that were purchased before March 2010. They are not forced at Obamcare gunpoint to switch to costly coverage plans. The penalties for not having insurance that were supposed to be financial killers amount to a $95 fine or 1 percent of an individual's income whichever is greater.
Read Earl Ofari Hutchinson's entire piece at the Hutchinson Report News.
The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.
DISCUSSION