Dakota Beacon

Obamacare has settled over America like a pall. Originally touted as a good thing that would benefit America, Obamacare, in effect, is destroying one of the best health care systems in the world.
As happens so often with totalitarian measures of the Democrat left, the people are sold a bill of goods on the pretext that government is helping them. The unintended consequence is that the law hurts far more people than it helps and fails to help the ones for whom it was intended. Adding insult to injury, the left continues to justify its programs with a never-ending parade of emotional sob stories.
No one in the Obama administration has paid a price for the health care debacle. No one. No firings. No demotions. No resignations. However, the American people have paid a price -- and will continue to pay an awful price into the foreseeable future.
Here are some real horror stories from real people representing the tip of a very large iceberg.
Becky B. from Texas said, "My husband and I lost our family doctor two months ago. We really liked him but he told us he could no longer afford to keep his office open due to Obamacare."
From Florida Cindy K. writes, "To keep my premium for increasing I had to raise my deductible to $5,000."
Also from Florida Charles B. who was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 reports, "My policy will no longer be available as of January 1, 2014. I have repeatedly attempted to sign on to [healthcare.gov] without any success."
In Texas Melissa A. says, "Not only have we lost our doctors because they've dropped plans due to rising health care costs, our insurance premiums at work for 2014 are now going up...."
North Dakota is a microcosm of the larger national health care situation. Without mentioning any names, I've heard similar stories from individuals locally.
These are just a few of the families who were privately insured and who lost their health care coverage.
It is not just families that have been hurt. Seniors have also seen their health care degraded. Medicare Advantage has taken a direct hit. Effective January 1, 2014, a majority of Medicare Advantage programs, in which Medicare provides money for private insurers to cover seniors, began canceling the contracts of providers as a cost-cutting measure. The Medicare Advantage dollars will now go to fund other obligations of Obamacare. Well over a million seniors nation wide are affected.
The most hurtful pain is yet to come. The roughly 149 million people insured through employer-based health care plans are beginning to feel the steamroller bearing down on them. Under the current law, employers cannot remain financially viable without major changes to their employees' health care provisions. Some companies are introducing a larger deductible. Some company plans will require a higher co-payment. Some company plans are requiring their employees to contribute more toward a higher premium. Some companies are dropping coverage for their part-time employees (Walgreen and Home Depot to name two). Some companies are excluding spouses from coverage (UPS and IBM). Some companies are dropping full-time employee health care coverage entirely and sending their employees to the public health insurance exchanges.
Ironically, those who were to be helped by Obamacare, the thirty-or-more million uninsured, are not at all excited by their prospects. Helping the uninsured was the original motive for Obamacare. Now, even the uninsured don't like the plan. Even if these uninsured can find a job (and many cannot) their employment is only part-time. Employers are cutting the work force and cutting hours to avoid the horrendous costs of the employees' health care they cannot afford -- either through greatly increased cost or by fine. Additionally, the uninsured have the same frustrating experience as other Americans when trying to negotiate the unsecured Obamacare website.
According to a recent Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, the uninsured view Obamacare unfavorably by roughly a 2 to 1 margin. This begs the question: If a large percentage of uninsured feel dissatisfied with Obamacare, and they were the moral basis for the Affordable Care Act, why should Obamacare even exist?
Truth be told, Obama's Affordable Care Act, euphemism that it is, was never intended to "fix" America's health care system. The thirty-or-so million people without health care became the distraction for the real intent. The real intent was to bring under central government control and planning one-sixth of the US economy grounded in the private sector that comprised the US health care system. Control people's medical care and you control the people.
What's next? Control of the food supply on the pretext of treating obesity?

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).