Obamacare’s Drain on Patients, Employers, and the Economy

While Republicans roll up our sleeves and get to work taking the first steps to repeal Obamacare and creating a #BetterWay to make quality health care more affordable and accessible, Democrats and President Barack Obama assert that the status quo is acceptable. Unfortunately, the only thing Obamacare is delivering is broken promises.

Over the years, the Joint Economic Committee has examined aspects of the Affordable Care Act and here is a sample of what we've found:

* Obamacare puts government bureaucracy at the center of your healthcare decisions, not you and your doctor. Just look at this chart from 2010 showing how Obamacare's bureaucratic mess is supposed to work. The red tape and mandates are a dead weight on our economy and get between patients and their doctors.

* Obamacare costs too much. Unlike President Obama's promises of a plan that would lower the cost of health care, Obamacare has actually driven up premium prices. This interactive map shows this year's premium increases hitting families who were looking for affordable options.

* Obamacare's burdensome taxes stifle innovation and tie the hands of small business owners who are looking to grow and create jobs. New taxes created to fund Obamacare, like the only temporarily suspended medical device excise tax, are not just poorly conceived policies, they threaten American jobs and drive up the cost of care. In addition, Obamacare has increased tax rates for small businesses and has discouraged them from hiring for fear that additional employees will trigger expensive mandates and tax penalties.

* Obamacare taxes combined with our already broken tax code mean fewer Americans working. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) noted that Obamacare and our tax code discourage Americans from working by threatening those who earn more with higher taxes or the loss of insurance subsidies that help them pay for unaffordable premiums. This robs Americans of the ability to reach their full potential and dims our economic outlook.

* Obamacare adds to our burgeoning debt crisis. CBO continues to warn that our current debt trajectory risks a financial crisis. Mandatory spending on entitlement programs is the major driver of our debt, and Obamacare compounds the problem with new and expanded healthcare entitlements that, along with Medicare, are the fastest growing area of our budget.

The diagnosis is in and Obamacare is broken. It hurts families, saddles employers with burdensome mandates, and worsens the spending problem fueling our debt, limiting economic growth. Congressman Pat Tiberi (R-OH), chairman-designate of the Joint Economic Committee, is helping lead the way in dismantling Obamacare and promoting patient-centered and affordable health care. He knows Obamacare's failure isn't hypothetical; Obamacare isn't living up to its promises.

Read this original document at: http://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/newsroom?ID=A709F887-B6EC-43C7-ADF6-211958F49855