By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--May 13, 2014
American Politics, News | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
Nearly half a billion dollars in federal money has been spent developing four state Obamacare exchanges that are now in shambles — and the final price tag for salvaging them may go sharply higher. Each of the states — Massachusetts, Oregon, Nevada and Maryland — embraced Obamacare, and each underperformed. All have come under scathing criticism and now face months of uncertainty as they rush to rebuild their systems or transition to the federal exchange. The $474 million spent by these four states includes the cost that officials have publicly detailed to date. It climbs further if states like Minnesota and Hawaii, which have suffered similarly dysfunctional exchanges, are added.
Nationally, federal taxpayers have spent $4,633 per enrollee for each of the 8+ million who have signed up for Exchange coverage through April 19. But this ranges from a low of $3,038 in Tennessee to a high of $24,947 in Hawaii. ...these costs were nearly $1,000 lower per enrollee in Republican-controlled states compared to those where the governor and legislature were controlled by Democrats.If you think that's terrible, you're right. Even assuming that the 8 million enrollment number is correct (and we're all aware that it probably isn't) you have to remember that 74% of those "new signups" were people who were already insured but lost their policies due to ObamaCare non-compliance. In other words, the government spent thousands of your tax dollars, per person, in an effort to force people who already had insurance to buy insurance again. ...Only now they get to enjoy policies which generally carry higher premiums and deductibles.
View Comments
Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com
Be sure to “like” Robert Laurie over on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did.