A few hundred thousand people are about to learn just how phony Obama's Big Lie was, as the magnitude of the next ObamaCare insurance cancellation wave becomes clear. Fox News reports that Wal-Mart's big announcement this week was just the tip of the iceberg:
More than a dozen states plan to cancel health care policies not in compliance with ObamaCare in the coming weeks, affecting thousands of people just before the midterm elections.
"It looks like several hundred thousand people across the country will receive notices in the coming days and weeks," said Jim Capretta of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
The policies are being canceled because states that initially granted a reprieve at the request of President Obama are no longer willing to do so.
In coming weeks, 13 states and the District of Columbia plan to cancel such policies, which generally fall out of compliance with the Affordable Care Act because they don???t offer the level of coverage the law requires.
Virginia will be hardest hit, with 250,000 policies expected to be canceled.
And because federal law requires a 60-day notice of any plan changes, voters will be notified no later than November 1, right before the Nov. 4 midterms.
Many of those forced out of their current plans and into ObamaCare may not be able to keep their doctors. They also could face higher deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses, making ObamaCare an election issue on the eve of voting.
Perhaps, although methinks this analysis is underestimating the impact of early voting and absentee ballots. Quite a few people are going to stuff their absentee ballots into the mail one day, and receive their ObamaCare insurance cancellation notice the next.
Also, this is not the same nation it was when Barack Obama took office; a diminished America of low expectations and zero government accountability has become grimly accustomed to this sort of thing. Democrats can hope the public's dislike of ObamaCare has already been "priced in" to the election - they already know Obama lied about being able to keep your plan if you liked it, and they've had some time to deal with it. As long as they don't get angry enough to trigger the kind of sustained multi-election wave it would take to repeal the program, their disapproval is irrelevant - that's what it means when your liberty is taken away.
And it will be two years before a new President might sign a repeal bill, which is two more years for the budget-busting program to armor itself politically behind dependents. Storming a legislative fortress requires a significant advantage in numbers, so even if the people who dislike ObamaCare dramatically outnumber its beneficiaries, Democrats calculate that the odds won't tip enough in repeal's favor to make it happen.
The people who lose insurance plans they liked will be expected to suck it up in silence; the media certainly isn't going to spotlight them. Barack Obama and the other politicians and think-tankers responsible for this disaster will not have to face them. The designated losers will be told the cost and inconvenience visited upon them is a small price to pay for the benefits delivered to the designated winners, who will receive all the attention. That's how the game is played with this most callous of reforms. Even the most watered-down of "good news," far below the promises made four years ago, are good enough to be hailed as a "success"... provided the bad news, from canceled policies and elevated premiums, to lost doctor access and delirious levels of government spending, is completely ignored.
What's wrong with ObamaCare long ago went beyond miscalculations, unexpected consequences, and unforeseen complications. If it was a private-sector enterprise, it would long ago have been torn apart for breach of contract in courts. Since it's a government boodoggle, the only court hearing will be on Election Day, and you'll have to render a pretty stunning verdict to keep the defense from claiming a victory. The people actually holding cancellation notices in their hands in November probably won't be enough. It's time to find out if the American people retain a sense of civic responsibility.
