Did you know we missed a major birthday on Wednesday?? No, it wasn’t a celebrity, a world famous model or singer, nor a politician, not even a world leader. We seriously missed the chance to break out the confetti and pop the champagne corks in celebration of the 6th anniversary of Obamacare!!

So exciting right??? Yeah. Not. So. Much. Obamacare, the gift that keeps giving. That oh so stellar “golly gee you shouldn’t have!” gift that you really really wish you could give back.

Yesterday Chelsea Clinton opined that we should celebrate this debacle, as long as we call it – Hillarycare, you know because Hillary CARES and because it’s Hillary who is the true architect of this debacle.

“…cap on out of pocket expenses. This was part of my mom’s original plan back in ’93 and ’94, as well as premium costs. We can either do that directly or through tax credits. And, kind of figuring out whether she could do that through executive action, or she would need to do that through tax credits working with Congress. She thinks either of those will help solve the challenge of kind of the crushing costs that still exist for too many people, who even are part of the Affordable Care Act and buying insurance…”

However, there are some pesky facts that get in the way of those who wish to trumpet how great, good, and wonderful Obamacare/Hillarycare is.

Employer Mandate: Hillary herself admits that Obamacare’s skyrocketing prices discourages full time employment, and even suggested in 2007 that the employer mandate include businesses with 25 or more employees rather than the 50 or more employees it is now.

https://vine.co/v/imDB7TAr3VV/embed

Insurance Coops:  A taxpayer loan of $1.2 billion (hey, they forgot to ask me if I agreed to that!!) was the kick starter for 23 of them. Of those, 12 have failed spectacularly and the rest are struggling. Obama even “gifted” them another $1.2 billion in a failed attempt to fix an unfixable problem. Will we ever see that returned to us? Do not hold your breath on that one.

Fraud is rampant: In 2014, nearly 1/2 million applications totaling $1.7 billion in subsidies still had unresolved issues. Furthermore the GAO report this February determined that CMS STILL does not have a system in place to resolve those issues. And let’s not forget the data insecurity of the system.

CMS failed to resolve Social Security number inconsistencies for about 35,000 applications totaling $154 million in subsidies and incarceration inconsistencies for about 22,000 applications worth $68 million. Unbelievably, the contractor that CMS relies upon to detect and stop fraud is not required by the agency to possess any fraud detection capabilities.

Healthcare.gov: The Administration has spent over $2 billion taxpayer dollars in constructing a system that To. This. Day. is not finished and fails regularly. Furthermore, the IRS has been handed well over $900 million so they have people and systems in place to handle the new burden this lovely “present” gave them.

Insurance Bailouts: Many of the insurance companies, some who were in the tank for Obama’s grand idea, have suffered major financial losses while trying to implement and navigate this behemoth that, as Nancy infamously said,

The losses were such that taxpayers, thanks to Obama’s largess, have now bailed THOSE companies out of the ditch to the tune of $3.5 billion. If there are any positive results to that particular bailout, the marketplace has yet to realize it.

Individual Costs: Obamacare was marketed as a means to save American taxpayers money while giving them the healthcare they need.

https://twitter.com/CeceliaLorraine/status/712652897041850368

I know right? How about this?

Premium costs for the ACA’s bronze, silver, gold and platinum plans are expected to rise significantly, around 20.3% on average in 2016 instead of the 7.5% increase as claimed by federal officials. [emphasis mine]

Penalties for not having insurance in 2016, jumps to $695 per adult ($325 in 2015 & $95 in 2014) or 2.5% (2% in 2015 & 1% in 2014) of the total household income, whichever is higher.

Well folks, the result is in…

On this 6th #ObamacareAnniversary its legacy is fewer choices, higher-costs, & massive debts. https://t.co/ZJ4EiuJKcv

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) March 23, 2016

Now if there is some way we could make Obamacare disappear altogether, THAT would be cause for celebration.