Here Are Two Reminders That Obamacare Is Going Be a Bureaucratic Nightmare

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It appears that several notable Republicans, including Congressmen Eric Cantor, John Boehner, Kevin McCarthy, and Paul Ryan, have surrendered the fight over repealing President's Barack Obama's health care law.

So, although there are a few options left to fight the massive healthcare overhaul, it looks like it’s here to stay -- and you may want to get used to the idea.

That being said, here are two simple reminders that the program – which will be responsible for your personal health – will be run by a massive federal bureaucracy.

First, here’s a copy the 21-page draft application Americans will have to fill out in order to access the health law’s subsidized insurance coverage [courtesy the Washington Post]:

And although the above looks daunting (and asks applicants for an awful lot of personal information), take heart in knowing that most Americans will never see it.

“Most who access health insurance through the exchange are expected to do so online, not in paper,” the WaPo’s Sarah Kliff explains.

Well, that’s a relief.

But, really, do the feds seriously expect people to fill out that form? What are they thinking? This brings us to our second reminder.

The following flow chart “comes from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which represents the regulators who oversee each state’s insurance market. It is an attempt to draw up the most basic, simple questions to determine eligibility for insurance subsidies or Medicaid,” Kliff notes:

Courtesy the WaPo.

“You don’t have to spend much time with the chart to get that, it’s really not simple at all,” she adds.

“It can take as many as six questions just to determine an individual’s ability to buy insurance. An eight-question chain sorts out eligibility to eschew employer coverage and buy an individual plan with a tax credit instead,” Kliff explains.

In short, the purpose of the 21-page form is to collect enough information to see where applicants land on the flow chart.

Have fun.

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Featured image courtesy movingimagesource.us.

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Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly quoted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as having said: "When it came to Obamacare, we gave it everything we have, everything we have, and we just lost.”

However, contrary to original reports, this is what the senator actually said: "When it came to Obamacare, we gave it everything we had -- everything we had -- and we just barely lost the legislative fight."

We have since removed the incorrect quote and we apologize for the mistake.