The disinformation of Obamacare

Obamacare was sold on a trinity of lies.
Most people are aware of the first deception in the triumvirate of deceit: “If you like your health insurance you can keep it, period.” The second deception was “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” However the third plank in the triad of disinformation hasn’t gotten much attention: “Obamacare will save you, me, and the country a lot of money.” Well, this lie took several forms, I’ll give you that.

First, Obama promised on many occasions that the average family of four will save $2,500 a year in premiums. Where did that number come from though? Three Harvard economists wrote a memo in 2007 in which they claimed that then-Senator Obama’s health-care plan would reduce national health-care spending by $200 billion.

The president and his allies insisted that all of Obamacare’s “free” preventative care would actually save the country vast amounts of money. As Obama put it in 2012: “As part of the health-care reform law that I signed last year, all insurance plans are required to cover preventive care at no cost. That means free check-ups, free mammograms, immunizations, and other basic services. We fought for this because it saves lives and it saves money — for families, for businesses, for government, for everybody.”
Again, this isn’t true either. First of all, you’d think people would understand that there is no such thing as “at no cost.” You are paying for “free” mammograms, blood tests, and the rest, even if you don’t see a line item for them on your bill. And even if you’re poor enough that you don’t even see a bill, that doesn’t mean no one’s paying. That’s why millions of Americans who’ve lost their health insurance thanks to Obamacare are discovering that the new plans it offers are either more expensive, have higher deductibles, or both.

And, prevention doesn’t necessarily save money. Just think about it.
According to the National Cancer Institute, 12.4 % of American women will get breast cancer at some point in their lives. So for every positive diagnosis there are seven negative diagnoses. Those tests cost a lot of money. Moreover, of the women who do get it, premature screenings won’t necessarily catch it. That in no way means that screenings don’t make sense. They do, particularly for women in high-risk groups. But testing everybody isn’t a great way to save money. As the Congressional Budget Office reported in August, “The evidence suggests that for most preventive services, expanded utilization leads to higher, not lower, medical spending overall.”

So, Obamacare may have been sold on a trinity of lies, but it turns out it’s also lies all the way down.