Obamacare, is it really a success? Recent poll numbers have been dismal for President Obama. Obama’s approval rating dropped to 40% in this latest poll from 41% in a June survey, and he notched a disapproval rating of 54%, matching a previous high. Meanwhile, 36% approve of Mr. Obama’s handling of foreign policy, compared with the 60% who disapprove—his worst-ever marks – click here.
That being said, it has been thought that Obamacare (the new American healthcare system), the signature achievement of the Obama presidency, has always been held out as, at least one thing Obama has done good for the American people. But recently I have been reading some numbers in terms of the US healthcare system. For me they are a bit of a head scratcher. In addition, it does make me wonder about the state of the American economy. Take a look at the following statistics:
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[li]Total number of Medicare (normally for the retired) recipients is near 50 million people – click here.
[/li][li]There were 65 million people in Medicaid (normally for the poor) – click here.
[/li][li]There are 30 million uninsured in America – click here.
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Not getting into the issue of whether this is right or wrong – or whether the healthcare system has been paid for or not, but when doing simple math, nearly 145 million Americans are either under government programmes or do not have healthcare coverage. With 330 million Americans, this represents 44% of the population. For a supposed privatized healthcare system I find this remarkable – not just in terms of the US healthcare system, but gives a window into the state of the real economy in America. So what has the new Obamacare programme done? Check out the following statistics:
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[li]New Medicaid enrollments top 7 million under Obamacare – click here.
[/li][li]Nearly 8 million people have signed up for Obamacare (ACA) – click here.
[/li][li]McKinsey Survey: 74% Of Obamacare sign-ups were previously insured – click here.
[/li][li]Almost 90% of the nation’s 30 million uninsured won’t pay a penalty under Obamacare – click here.
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So looking at these numbers what this means, is that the Obamacare healthcare strategy has really only added about 2 million new paying customers and very little revenue will be collected from folks that refuse to pay. This does not sound like the wide sweeping new healthcare system bill that we were sold. It also just shows how the American healthcare system, though helped a bit under Obamacare, is still largely broke. Just for the record, this is not just a slam on Obama Blog – I believe he should have just nationalized the healthcare service industry – what we have now is ineffective.
With all the other issues that Obama is battling today, I believe once people understand the ineffectiveness of Obamacare, this is just one more political issue that will come back to haunt him and his party. Woe be to the Democrats in the 2014 mid-term elections and presidential elections in 2016. My guess is that Obamacare could in fact get repealed one day. Policy changes are coming (good or bad), and markets will respond.
Blue Point Trading, William Thompson