A Scam to Die For

There’s nothing new about public officials lying to you, but in this case the lie is immoral and potentially deadly. You’re being told that the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” is a failure. A fiasco. A nightmare! A government takeover of healthcare!

All of them are the opposite of true. And the fact that you’re being told those lies over and over again—most notoriously by Republicans but much too often by the mainstream media— is helping to ensure that millions of Americans who need healthcare aren’t getting it. That means people will needlessly die. All of that to grotesquely boost the Republican Party’s chances of regaining power in the 2014 elections.

Here are some facts, starting with my own personal Obamacare “nightmare”: Last December I signed up for a private health insurance policy on the California ACA exchange website. It took me less than an hour. I got a plan with the same provider but for $300 less per month than I had been paying previously. That’s a savings of some $3,600 per year. End of “nightmare.”

My deductible and copays for the new plan are slightly higher, but that was by choice. (I have been relatively healthy and haven’t much used my existing plan each year.)