Commentary

In the midst of the heated struggle in Washington, D.C., the ObamaCare Exchanges have ducked scrutiny by the media. Of course, there have been stories about the websites and technical “glitches”. But those are not the important questions.

First among the critical questions: How much will policies cost Idahoans?

Just yesterday, the Heritage Foundation published data on premiums under the new Obama Insurance Company. It is not pretty.

For a single person, age 27, premiums are expected to rise by a whopping 86%. A single Idaho adult, age 50, will see premiums increase 34%. By comparison, an Idaho family of four will see relatively modest increases of “only” 9% in their monthly premiums.

But this is certainly not the end of the story. The Heritage numbers do not include information about the all-important deductibles associated with the new ObamaCare policies. We will continue to hunt for information about this critical component of any family’s financial situation.

Families in 21 states are facing double-digit increases in their premiums next year. Even more disturbing, Heritage projects that in just five states will families see any relief in the already-high cost of providing health care to spouses and children. That means increases are coming for virtually every family in America – despite Obama’s repeated claims that he will save the average family $2500 a year on their health insurance costs.

It is clear from such painful data that Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Idaho’s senators were right to stage a last-minute struggle to prevent ObamaCare from pounding America’s hard-pressed families. Sadly, they lost the battle, and now we will all pay the price.

Part of that defeat came from a failure of messaging: From the beginning of Cruz’s crusade in Senate, the media characterized his strategy to defund ObamaCare as something extraneous to the grave fiscal and debt issues facing the nation. But, in truth, ObamaCare was/is central to the question of America’s long-term financial health. Obama has doubled the national debt in his first five years in office. And that is without ANY of the insanity of ObamaCare hitting the nation’s bleeding checkbook. By the end of his term, we will all look back at the “good old days” when America was in bondage to a “mere” $17 trillion.

Meanwhile, Idaho’s Obama Exchange continues to plug faithfully along, adding expertise and competence to a disastrous social policy.