Obama Admin. Playing Politics With Health Care...Again

In yet another shockingly brazen display of political posturing from the “most transparent administration in history,” the Obama White House is refusing to release final Healthcare.gov insurance premiums until after the November 4th midterm elections. In other words, if you like your premium, you might not be able to keep it – but the government isn’t going to tell you until after the election.

As the Daily Caller recently reported, premiums will be finalized on November 3rd – the day before the election – but not released on the website until closer to November 15th when the next open enrollment period begins. How convenient.

The Healthcare.gov website is displayed on a laptop computer arranged for a photograph in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Tim Phillips, president of free-market grassroots organization Americans for Prosperity, responded to the reports saying, “This is more than just a glitch. The President sold Obamacare to the American people on the false promise that it would make health care more accessible and affordable for those who need it most. Sadly, Obamacare has actually put affordable health care even further out of reach for millions of Americans.”

He continued, “The decision to withhold the costs of this law until after Election Day is just more proof that Obamacare is a bad deal for Americans.”

Clearly, the Administration sees the writing on the wall. Already, states across the country are anticipating premium increases – some in the double-digits – despite the fact that President Obama repeatedly promised Americans that his health-care takeover scheme would save the average family $2,500 per year on their premiums.

In hiding the finalized premiums, the White House is once again trying to protect a political majority instead of being open and honest with the American people. Obamacare’s approval remains underwater thanks to a myriad of problems and broken promises, and if voters are hit with another round of Obamacare sticker shock the day before the election – let’s just say that likely won’t bode well for the President’s supporters in Congress.

Moreover, some of the states seeing the biggest premium increases happen to be those where some of the President’s staunchest allies are on the ballot, such as Louisiana, Iowa, and Alaska. Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D), Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley (D), and Alaska Senator Mark Begich (D) have all been hit repeatedly for supporting the deeply unpopular and controversial law, and all are struggling to hold onto Democratic Senate seats.

But (at least publicly) President Barack Obama remains supportive of the law. Recently, he doubled-down on the law again, declaring that Obamacare is “working pretty well in the real world.”

If so, then why not let people see for themselves, and respond in the clearest way possible on Election Day?

The President even went as far as to say that his policies “are on the ballot this year. Every single one of them.” Obviously that includes Obamacare, and advocates of free markets could not agree more: Obama’s policies are on the ballot in the form of several politicians who have rubber-stamped his agenda over 90 percent of the time.

Before the American people head to the ballot box, they should call on President Obama and his allies in Congress to unabashedly proclaim the effects of their policies, and make the referendum as clear as possible, by releasing the costs of Obama's legacy-defining law the day before Election Day.

After the past six years under this Administration, it is the least America deserves.

Akash Chougule is a policy analyst at Americans for Prosperity, the nation’s premier free-market grassroots organization. Akash brings a unique perspective to AFP, and specializes in health care, education, and labor issues.

–

TheBlaze contributor channel supports an open discourse on a range of views. The opinions expressed in this channel are solely those of each individual author.