After six years of insisting Obamacare would drive down costs, the American people aren’t buying it — not the coverage, and certainly not the lies. Millions of families are feeling the financial pain for themselves, as prices and premiums climb higher than the 2,700-page bill that produced this mess. The system that was supposed to transform our health care system has succeeded in that transformation, but not in the way it was promised.

Higher costs, less freedom, fewer jobs, unhappy insurers, shrinking doctor networks, and abortion mandates are a far cry from the rosy picture Democrats painted in 2009 and 2010 when the Democratically controlled Congress completed one of its biggest heists of our freedoms in the modern era: passing the health care takeover. A half-decade into the signature failure of the Obama presidency (and that’s saying something!), 76 percent of Americans are worried about health insurance costs.

And based on the latest reports, they have reason to. “According to S&P, per covered member per month costs increased 38 percent between 2013 and 2014 and another 23 percent between 2014 and 2015. The two-year increase (69 percent) is the product of two single-year increases.” Unfortunately for insurers, the news is just as bleak. Forbes estimates that because so many healthy young people are forgoing coverage, insurance companies are losing more than $1,000 per enrollee. Is it any wonder the billion-dollar hits are causing CEOs at UnitedHealth and Humana are looking for the exit sign? Of all 50 states, Obamacare insurers lost money in 41 of them. The 2015 numbers will likely be worse. And what is the White House’s response to this miserable excuse for a health care system? “We weren’t as clear as we needed to be in terms of the changes that were taking place.”

That’s the understatement of the century. Yet, as Ed Morrissey points out, the White House is far from contrite. In fact, he writes, the Obama team still jokes about the “if you like your insurance, you can keep it” line. “Are incompetence and deceit humorous? Perhaps in the Obama administration, the answer might be yes. For the rest of us, especially those who find themselves stuck between a federal tax mandate and an insurance market that has narrowed as significantly as its costs have skyrocketed, no is the correct answer.”

Even now, years after the deception of even the name of the bill (the Affordable Care Act), liberals feign surprise at the everyday struggles the law has imposed. Just this week, at a campaign event in Virginia, Hillary Clinton pretended to be baffled at the sad story of one small business owner who didn’t qualify for a subsidy. “I have seen our health insurance for my own family go up $500 a month in the last two years,” she told the former First Lady. “We went from $400-something to $900-something … we’re just fighting to keep benefits for ourselves.” As a result, her employees are suffering. Clinton’s response? “I don’t understand,” she replied, seemingly baffled at a story shared by thousands of businesses. “I think that the Affordable Care Act is a big step forward for the vast majority of Americans, but we have to look at out of pocket costs, copays, deductibles, premiums.” Unfortunately for the nation, this is just one of many examples of the devastation that’s been left in the wake of President Obama’s desire to fundamentally transform America.

Originally published here.

ACLU Suit Miss. Directed

Isn’t the point of the American Civil Liberties Union to protect liberties? Not when they conflict with the ACLU’s far-Left ideology. That was made abundantly clear in Mississippi this week, when the unofficial arm of the Democratic Party dragged the state into court over a law that does exactly what the organization supposedly supports! In a desperate cry for attention, the ACLU is suing a woman who directs the state’s Health Statistics and Vital Records over a scenario that hasn’t even happened. Together with a handful of plaintiffs, a same-sex couple is alleging that the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act treats them like “second-class citizens.”

No one is quite sure how, since they haven’t even applied for the marriage license that they insist someone in Mississippi would deny over religious reasons! In other words, the ACLU is not suing a state official over what has happened but what they think might happen when the law gives locals the opportunity to be accommodated by opting out of an event or duty that violates their religious beliefs. Apparently, the ACLU didn’t bother to read the law, because it states in black and white, “Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent the state government from providing…any benefit or service authorized under state law.” This law accommodates both the same-sex couple and those with religious convictions who believe it’s morally wrong to facilitate a same-sex wedding.

Under H.B. 1523, no one is allowed to “discriminate” — not against same-sex couples and not against Christians. All the law does is ensure that the government can’t punish someone for their natural views on marriage or sexuality. There’s no fine print giving people the right to deny services, despite the Left’s bogus propaganda. If coexistence is the goal, then this law provides the path. And here’s the other kicker: the ACLU is suing over a law that hasn’t even gone into effect! H.B. 1523 won’t be enacted until July, and the intolerant crowd is already manufacturing injustices!

[Wednesday] on “Washington Watch” (listen below), Governor Phil Bryant (R-Miss.) talked about the real motivation for the suit. “The ACLU is raising money off of this. I’m almost certain that they’re sending out emails saying, ‘Help us fight the state of Mississippi’… and I can tell you, we are going to pursue this… because [we] know that in any reasonable world, it will be dismissed.” This is nothing more than a frivolous lawsuit from a movement that knows it’s losing the debate. “As the word spreads,” Governor Bryant said, “I think the rest of the nation is beginning to wake up and ask, ‘What kind of world are we living in?’ This isn’t Hollywood. This is America, where common sense prevails.”

Fortunately for Mississippi, some of that common sense already has. On Tuesday, Governor Bryant signed into law a measure that will defund organizations like Planned Parenthood that are facilitating abortion on the taxpayer dime. Although the state’s only abortion center receives some of the fewest taxpayer dollars in the country, even a penny’s worth of involvement is too much. State leaders are determined to follow in the footsteps of the other states who’ve ended taxpayers’ forced partnership with Cecile Richards’s group. Obviously, if liberals thought they could intimidate Mississippi, they were mistaken!

Originally published here.

On the Magistrate and Narrow

If the government wants to boost jobs, it ought to stop driving people out of the ones they have! In places like Wyoming, help is wanted — but conscience isn’t. Municipal Judge and Circuit Court Magistrate Ruth Neely found that out when she explained that she would not perform same-sex marriages because of her religious beliefs. “I will not able to do them,” she told a reporter. “We have at least one magistrate who will do same-sex marriages but I will not be able to.”

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down the state’s marriage amendment, it seems the Wyoming Supreme Court wants to chuck the First Amendment along with it, arguing that Neely should be forced to officiate the weddings or clean out her office. Like other states, the “Equality State” is anything but in the balancing act between same-sex marriage and religious liberty. “The entire proceeding is apparently the result of one reporter’s desire to purge the bench of a Christian judge — a purge eagerly taken up by Wyoming’s Commission on Judicial Conflict and Ethics,” David French explains. “In its beneficence, however, it reportedly promised to drop its investigation if Neely submitted to public, ritual humiliation:

‘The Commission’s attorney told Judge Neely that the Commission would forego its prosecution if she would agree to resign both of her judicial positions, never against seek judicial office in Wyoming, admit wrongdoing, and allow the Commission to publicly state that she had decided to resign in response to a charge of judicial misconduct.’”

Some settlement! And that doesn’t include the $40,000 fine. As if it weren’t enough that the courts stripped the people’s voice, now the government wants to punish their belief as well. Now, with the help of our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom, Neely is fighting back, for which we should all be grateful. FRC also signed on to an amicus brief in her defense. As Carl Trueman of First Things’ points out this has far-reaching consequences for all of society.

“We should all reflect on the significance of this case because it has far-reaching legal and cultural implications. Can one not hold public office in the United States now unless one is committed to the latest ideological fad, regardless of whether that fad is actually relevant to one’s work? Could one be a public school teacher — or a teacher of any government accredited school for that matter — unless one subscribes ex animo to whatever the creed of the day happens to be? And where will this end?”

Originally published here.