As numerous healthcare experts have warned for years — and as studies have shown since ObamaCare became the law of the land — another key selling point of the president’s signature legislative achievement has turned out to be wrong…very wrong.
Proponents of ObamaCare frequently claimed that costly trips to hospital emergency rooms by uninsured patients would go down as a result of the law’s taking effect, thus saving money and conserving ER resources. But that hasn’t happened. Critics have been proven right, and once again it’s been shown that the sales job for the president’s healthcare takeover scheme was built on a pack of lies.
We’re all painfully familiar with Obama’s big lie — you know, the one about, “if you like your doctor….” Then there’s the promise that health insurance premiums would go down. Don’t forget the one about the individual mandate not being a tax, until the Supreme Court saved the law by declaring that it was.
Add to this list of blatant untruths the results of a brand new poll from the American College of Emergency Physicians about ER visits. USA Today reports that “28% of 2,099 doctors surveyed nationally saw large increases in volume, while 47% saw slight increases.”
“Such hikes run counter to one of the goals of the health care overhaul, which is to reduce pressure on emergency rooms by getting more people insured through Medicaid or subsidized private coverage and providing better access to primary care,” explains the USA Today article.
However, this sort of survey result is nothing new. In May of 2014, the far-left Huffington Post noted a similar finding as benefits from ObamaCare coverage went into effect for millions of Americans.
“The American College of Emergency Physicians polled more than 1,800 emergency room doctors last month, and 46 percent reported increases in patients coming through their doors since Jan. 1, the day coverage took effect for millions under Obamacare.”
The HuffPo article also points out that, what Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and company proclaimed would be a big plus of ObamaCare should have been known from day one to be a promise that couldn’t be fulfilled — based on the experience of two states with expanded health coverage for residents required by law.
“While a survey of emergency department physicians’ impressions lacks hard data about patient behavior and can’t be considered conclusive, the results are consistent with studies about the effects of Massachusetts’ 2007 health care reform law and a 2008 expansion of Medicaid in Oregon.”
Of course, these sorts of facts don’t prevent Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid from doing what he has come to be known for, especially with regard to Mitt Romney’s tax-paying habits — not sticking with facts. As The Hill pointed out in an article only a week ago, the Nevada Democrat took to the Senate floor to bash Republican opponents of the law he so aggressively championed; declaring, without reservation, that “ObamaCare is a smashing success.”
BCN editor’s note: This article first appeared at Western Journalism.