When it comes to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), things just keep getting worse for the Republicans. They predicted that only sick people would purchase insurance under Obamacare, and that would raise the price of premiums for everyone. But that didn't happen. The ratio of sick to healthy people did not change (and in fact, 30% of new policies were sold to young & healthy people), and because the insurance companies now have a much larger pool of consumers, the premium price has actually gone down (in New York the premiums have been cut in half).
They also predicted that the number of policies sold through the Obamacare exchanges would not even reach the revised CBO estimate of 6 million new policies. They were wrong again. The number of policies sold through Obamacare has now topped 8 million policies -- a staggering figure that even Democrats could not have predicted.
And that is not all of the bad news for the Republicans. Another 5 million people purchased insurance policies without going through either the federal or state insurance exchanges. And even though they didn't go through the Obamacare exchange, they are also receiving the benefits provided by Obamacare -- lower premium prices and better quality insurance policies. That means the number of policies improved by Obamacare actually tops 13 million (and that's policy numbers, not individuals helped -- which would be much higher). And this doesn't count the millions who now are covered by their parents' insurance or the many millions who qualify for Medicaid in the states that expanded that program.
The national GOP leadership just sent out a memo telling those running for office to run against Obamacare this year, telling them that is a winning strategy. It may be a winning strategy for the primaries (where they have to keep the teabaggers happy), but I believe it may not be so good for the general election. Do they really want to tell the many millions who are now benefitting from Obamacare that they will repeal it, and go back to the old system (which means poorer quality policies that cost more) -- especially in light of several polls showing a majority now want to keep Obamacare (and improve it)?
The Republicans will continue to whine about Obamacare -- at least for a while. They must do that to keep their base happy. But even they have to know that the real fight is over now. Obamacare is here to stay (until there is enough support to go further, and establish a single-payer system).
