Liberals are notorious for caring about
 “groups” of people, but when it gets
down to individual persons, not so
much. You’re about to see this play
out in spades as Democrats cry
crocodile tears over the coming
repeal of Obamacare.
You hear it over and over again:
 “This will be catastrophic for the
 20 million people who were
 previously uninsured but now have
coverage! You can’t take away their
health care!”
First of all, no one is talking about
doing that. Any repeal legislation
 will have a transition period for
those who got coverage through
 Obamacare to move to new plans.
And second, they will have more
choices and better options. Win. Win.
But liberals would rather focus on
quantity, how many millions we’ve
 given something to, versus quality,
what does that “gift” mean for individual 
people.

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The Obama administration claims 20
million more Americans today have
 health care due to Obamacare. The
reality is that when you look at the
actual net gains over the past two years
 since the program was fully implemented,
 the number is 14 million, and of that, 11.8
 million (84 percent) were people given the
“gift” of Medicaid.
And new research shows that even fewer people
will be left without insurance after the repeal
 of Obamacare. Numbers are still being
crunched, but between statistics released
by the Congressional Budget Office and
one of the infamous architects of Obamacare,
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s
Jonathan Gruber, it’s estimated that anywhere
 from 2 to 7 million people now on Medicaid
would have qualified for the program even
without Obamacare.
That further discredits the administration’s claim
 of 20 million more Americans having health
 insurance because of Obamacare.
Multiple studies have also shown that even
 those who are uninsured often have better
outcomes than those with Medicaid. A
University of Virginia study found that for
 eight different surgical procedures, Medicaid
 patients were more likely to die than privately
insured or uninsured patients. They were also
more likely to suffer complications.
And it is important to note that this study
focused on procedures done from 2003-2007,
prior to the geniuses in Washington deciding
 it was a good idea to put even more people
on the already overburdened Medicaid system.
Additionally, despite what proponents of the
law promised, there is little evidence to show
that the use of emergency rooms, which have
 a higher level of medical errors, has decreased
 due to Obamacare.
Then there is this reality: While Obamacare has
 handed out millions of new Medicaid cards, that
 does not mean the recipients now have quality
health care. In fact, it doesn’t ensure they have
health care at all. That’s because increasing
 numbers of doctors aren’t accepting Medicaid.
As a Louisiana woman told The New York Times,
 “My Medicaid card is useless for me right now.
It’s a useless piece of plastic. I can’t find an
 orthopedic surgeon or a pain management
 doctor who will accept Medicaid.”
Keep that in mind every time liberal Democratic
 senators pull out the Kleenex boxes bemoaning
 the fact Republicans are the ones trying to take
 people’s health care away.
Speaking of which, a much underreported fact of
 Obamacare is how many truly needy and disabled
Americans are NOT getting the services they need
because of the expansion of Medicaid for able-
bodied adults (aka healthy) of prime working age,
 19-54.
So while the left talks about all the new people
 Obamacare is helping, it neglects to mention
 that over half a million disabled people, from those
 with developmental disabilities to traumatic brain
injuries, are on waiting lists for care.
And many of them are on waiting lists because
Obamacare gives states more money to enroll
able-bodied adults than it does to take care of
disabled children and adults who qualified for
Medicaid prior to Obamacare.
If you think that doesn’t have a real-world
perverse impact, note this. Since Arkansas
 expanded its Medicaid program under
Obamacare, it’s rolls have grown by 25 percent.
During that same time, 79 people on the
Medicaid waiting list who suffered from
 developmental disabilities have died. I would
 encourage you to read my former Heritage
 Foundation colleague Chris Jacob’s full piece on this.
Finally, it’s not just those enrolled in Medicaid
that are finding fewer health care provider options.
For people who now have health plans through the
 Obamacare exchanges, new Heritage Foundation
 research shows that this year, in 70 percent of
 counties across the country, those consumers
will have only one or two insurers to choose from.
Add to that the millions of people who lost the
doctors and health plans they liked and are now
paying higher premiums for less coverage, and
you can see that quality health care and anything
resembling “choice” has quickly disappeared for
an increasing number of Americans due to
 Obamacare.
So the next time a defender of Obamacare
tries to take the moral high ground about the
 millions of people the law has helped, ask
them to define what “help” looks like.