U.S. Senator Ted Cruz
From U.S. Senator Ted Cruz:
Three years after the Affordable Care Act passed, it’s proved to be neither affordable nor caring.
Insurance premiums are skyrocketing. Seniors are losing health care choices. Millions of Americans are being pushed into a struggling and ineffective Medicaid system. Americans are grappling with scores of new taxes. Employers are slashing jobs and hours to avoid complying with Obamacare requirements.
This isn’t what was promised. Americans were told if Obamacare was made law, they would be able to keep their health plans, taxes wouldn’t go up, premiums would go down, and more jobs would be created. But the law isn’t living up to its label. And it’s hurting working families, young people, poor minorities and seniors the most.
Before Obamacare was adopted, President Barack Obama pledged that American families would pay $2,500 less for their insurance premiums by the end of his first term. Today, they are paying $3,000 more – a $5,500 swing between what was promised and reality. Young people will be particularly impacted, with the Energy and Commerce Committee estimating that recent college graduates with entry-level jobs who are struggling to pay off student loan debt could see their premiums increase between 145 and 189 percent on average.
As health costs are going up, jobs are becoming harder to obtain – a double dose of economic pain for those worrying about making ends meet. The Federal Reserve recently reported in its annual “beige book,” which analyzed economic data from across the country, that “employers in several districts cite the unknown effects of the Affordable Care Act as reasons for planned layoffs and reluctance to hire more staff.”
