That's what Tom Waschura, an independent who voted twice for Barack Obama, told the San Jose Mercury News on the day he learned his family of four would pay nearly $10,000 more for health insurance in 2014 in order for his policy to "conform to all the requirements of the new health care law."
"I really don't like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so pissed about this," Waschura told reporter Tracy Seipel. "When you take $10,000 out of my family's pocket each year, that's otherwise disposable income or retirement savings that will not be going into our local economy."
Sure, it's just one anecdote, and the success or failure of Obamacare will be determined by its overall effects. But the story is a good example of how the Affordable Care Act isn't living up to expectations. "Of course, I want people to have health care," Cindy Vinson, another Obama voter seeing her health policy spike $1,800 in 2014, told the paper. "I just didn't realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally."
The Mercury News reports that "California spokesman Dana Howard maintained that in public presentations the exchange has always made clear that there will be winners and losers under Obamacare." But, in fact, the law's biggest advocates didn't make that clear.
"If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change for you under this plan is the amount of money you will spend on premiums," Barack Obama said during his 2007 speech unveiling his health care plan. "That will be less."
In 2012, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said on Meet the Press that "everybody will have lower rates" under Obamacare. When asked by THE WEEKLY STANDARD this summer about reports of large rate hikes for some Americans, Pelosi said, "I don't remember saying that everybody in the country would have a lower premium."
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