Study: Contrary to Dem claims, repealing Obamacare will not increase mortality rates

Democrats and supporters of Obamacare have tried using scare tactics to keep the law in place, claiming without the socialized health care plan people will die.

However, a study by the Manhattan Institute has shown that Obamacare has saved zero people since it went into effect:

Certainly, there are individuals who have benefited from various of its provisions. But attempts to claim broader effects on public health or thousands of lives saved rely upon extrapolation from past studies that focus on the value of private health insurance.

The institute found that Obamacare “has expanded coverage through Medicaid, a public program that, according to several studies, has failed to improve health outcomes for recipients.”

Public health trends since Obamacare became law “have worsened, with 80,000 more deaths in 2015 than had mortality continued declining during 2014–15 at the rate achieved during 2000–2013.”

The institute found these stats:

In 2015, age-adjusted mortality rose and life expectancy declined in the United States for the first time since the early 1990s.Nor is it the case that states adopting the ACA’s optional Medicaid expansion performed better than those rejecting it; to the contrary, mortality in 2015 rose more in Medicaid expansion states.Despite implementation of the ACA, there were 80,000 more deaths in 2015 than had mortality continued to decline during 2014–15 at the same rate as during 2000–2013.

This evidence surfaced in the past but was ignored by proponents of the health insurance overhaul. A study in Oregon found that expanding Medicaid did not improve the health of people.

Richard Kronick, who served as deputy assistant secretary of HHS when the government passed Obamacare, “re-analyzed existing data and found that when controlling for initial health status, smoking status, and body mass index, there was no difference in mortality between those with employer-sponsored health insurance and those who were uninsured.”

As the GOP continues to debate repeal and replacement of Obamacare, the law may kill itself. Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini told The Wall Street Journal that Obamacare has found itself “in a death spiral” since premiums have climbed while healthy individuals choose to opt out.

UnitedHealth decided last April to leave some of the Obamacare markets due to loss of money.

In August, Aetna chose to scale back its Obamacare exchange offerings to four states. The law cost the company $430 million.

Last November, Cigna announced that it would scale back on its Obamacare offerings due to low enrollment and more, older and sicker consumers.

Tags: Obamacare

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