When Obamacare first made headlines, Hispanics were among the plan’s strongest supporters. And their support was critical. Most are young and healthy, and enrolling healthy people who are likely to stay healthy means they pay in far more than they take out. But Hispanic support has taken a nose dive.
The Hispanic community was the largest uninsured group in the country when Obamacare was enacted. Through November last year, they still were. The Pew Research Center says Hispanic support for Obamacare dropped from 60 percent in September 2013 to 47 percent just six months later. In a 2014 article, the Daily Caller noted one reason: “Hispanics’ support for Obamacare crashed after Obama admitted he had lied when he claimed voters could keep their own healthcare plan if they wished to keep it.”
How important was their disenchantment? Hispanic voter turnout was considered key to Democrat victories in the 2014 elections. You know how those elections turned out.
A brand-new poll, released February 2015 by Paragon Insights, shows that 68 percent of Hispanics now believe Obamacare should be fixed, repealed and replaced or repealed altogether.
Obamacare’s five-year anniversary was March 23. To mark the day, the executive director of The LIBRE Initiative, a non-partisan grassroots organization, called the plan “five years of struggle for the Hispanic community”:
“Today marks an unfortunate milestone: five years to the day that President Obama signed off on a bill that has overburdened the people it intended to help. While many now have insurance cards, mostly due to the coercive dictates of the law, the cruel irony is that they are nowhere closer to obtaining the quality care, and low costs options they were promised. Millions are forced to purchase plans they do not want. Many face narrow networks and are enduring high out-of-pocket costs. Ten percent of the people who have signed up for plans are Hispanics – many of whom realize they are not being offered a good plan, or worse, must now face the harsh reality of losing their plans.
“. . . And what’s more, millions of Hispanics, many who were experiencing difficulty paying their monthly bills, are preparing to face penalties this tax season because of its mandates and flawed system. Today’s anniversary reminds us that after five years, nothing has been done to address the problems with this law even while these new costs will break the budgets of so many struggling households. . . .”
The LIBRE Initiative speaks specifically to the Hispanic community, but the struggle against the chaos of Obamacare crosses all ethnic boundaries. We have long waged a war on Obamacare because of its cavalier use of taxpayer money for abortion in direct defiance of federal law. Now, as expected, we’re seeing how Obamacare has damaged Americans in other ways as well.
Some who’ve been hurt agreed to share how Obamacare has affected their lives and families. You can watch my conversations with them in Victims of Obamacare, Part 1 and Part 2, new episodes of my weekly TV program, Facing Life Head-On. And please feel free to share your own experience with Obamacare in the comment section below.
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