Bill Kristol's 1993 Nightmare is coming true. But if a Democratic success falls into the media's lap, does anyone hear it?
Sarah Kliff is an excellent reporter who recently joined Ezra Klein's Vox after working with him at the Washington Post's Wonkblog. At Vox, she's continued her great work on healthcare and ACA issues.
Yesterday, she summed up Seven Predicted Obamacare Disasters That Never Happened.
It's a handy guide for circulating on social media, or to reference when you have those "discussions" with that right wing brother-in-law. But I would only do the latter when someone else is reading or listening. You will never convince the rw-bil, but we need educate others about it because as Paul Krugman and others have pointed out, the success of the ACA is one of those stories that the "liberal" media doesn't cover. And opponents are still screaming that it's not working even though it is. Krugman:
But what I’m getting — and what you get whenever you suggest that things are going OK — is an outpouring, not so much of disagreement, as of fury. People get red-in-the-face angry, practically to the point of incoherence, over the suggestion that it’s not a disaster.
So here are the seven faulty predictions, and a brief note on actual results.
1) The website will never work.
Eventually it did and does.
2) Even if the website works, nobody wants to buy Obamacare.
Charles Gaba showed us otherwise long before the official results came in.
3) Obamacare definitely won't meet its enrollment goal.
No. It exceeded them. See Gaba above.
4) Only people who already had coverage are signing up.
Forbes reports uninsured numbers are falling rapidly
5) Obamacare would cause a net-loss of insurance.
Decline from 18% to 13.4% in the percent uninsured.
6) Premiums will skyrocket.
No. Only about the same increases as pre-ACA.
7) Obamacare just can't work.
Early indications are that appointment times are not increasing and healthcare costs are down.
I would add -- "People aren't paying their premiums."
Yes they are.
Please add to the list in the comments and I'll update with a longer list. (Just two more and we have a Top Ten!)