Like millions of Americans, you may have devoted a lot of attention this summer to following your favorite NFL team's preseason games.
Half-filled stadiums? Subpar beer commercials? None of that concerns you, because from player injuries, to expensive holdouts, to suspensions, botched plays and poor coaching, the preseason can offer big glimpses into the trajectory of an upcoming season just weeks away.
The same foresight can be applied to the "preseason" of the Affordable Care Act. With less than two weeks before Obamacare's exchanges kick off, the American people have seen enough in the run-up to determine that things are not likely to go well.
A recent Pew Research/USA Today poll revealed that 53 percent of Americans disapprove of the law, and according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, the number of Americans who believe Obamacare is a "bad idea" is 13 percent higher than those who think it's a "good idea."
It doesn't take John Madden to point out the obvious (though we'd all welcome his vehement BOOM!): Obamacare's continued widespread unpopularity is due to the fact that it's so unfair to middle-class Americans.
We've all seen the replays: the President famously promised Americans that if they liked their existing coverage, they could keep it. But that simply isn't true, and Obamacare is in fact causing hardworking Americans to lose their current insurance whether they like it or not. The most recent example of this comes as Home Depot announced "plans to end medical coverage for about 20,000 part-time employees and direct them to government-sponsored exchanges," joining a growing list of companies dropping workers from their existing insurance.
Meanwhile, middle-class families are also being faced with a startling lack of transparency when it comes to the drug costs under Obamacare. As The New York Times reports:
"Among the most troubling questions facing consumers as they shop for insurance under the Obama administration's new health care law is whether the plans will cover the drugs they take -- and how much they will have to pay for them."
Medicines are critical, often lifesaving, for millions of Americans, so it's disheartening to read the Times' report that "[a]nxiety is growing for consumers whose well-being depends on expensive medications."
While Washington keeps Americans in the dark about the real impact of Obamacare on their access to pharmaceuticals, the country has become all too familiar with the law's negative effects on the economy and job-creation.
Reuters' Kim Palmer recently reported that the Cleveland Clinic, a crown jewel of the American healthcare system, will "cut jobs and slash five to six percent of its $6 billion annual budget to prepare for President Barack Obama's health reforms." Not only is the Cleveland Clinic an integral source for cancer and cardiovascular treatment, it's also Ohio's second largest employer and accounts for "nearly eight percent of [Ohio's] economic output."
If you saw that your favorite NFL team was mired in a climate of uncertainty, poor performance, and fiscal irresponsibility, you'd be quick to acknowledge those problems and you'd want them fixed before they get worse. The same goes for a public policy that impacts our entire healthcare system. But unfortunately, the Obama Administration and their liberal allies are determined to ignore the mounting evidence that their law is a loser, and they refuse to even acknowledge, much less dismantle, its many harmful components.
Instead, they've decided to spend millions of dollars to sell the law to a disapproving public. That's why YG Network is encouraging all Americans to Stop The Sell.
Americans deserve better. We should be building a well-functioning, patient-focused healthcare system that puts families first, lowers costs, promotes high quality, and doesn't encourage employers to "sack" workers or "turn over" their insurance coverage.