The promise was one that had made all those waiting for a reform of the US healthcare system dream, which has always been considered less fair (if not anti-democratic) compared to the models of Western European countries. Obamacare was a boast of the first election campaign of the current president of the United States, re-elected a year ago and particularly appreciated overseas precisely for his challenge in social policy: Slashing the health care costs of a typical family of 2.500 by more than $4 each year.
But it is the economic magazine that is the one to give fleas to this revolutionary reform Forbes, which reveals how in reality, between 2014 and 2022, Obamacare will cost, according to data from the Medicare's actuary, a total of 7.450 dollars more to each household in the stars and stripes. In short, a bluff that will cost the Americans 621 billion dollars in all: it is precisely by dividing this sum by the total number of citizens and multiplying it by 4 that Forbes obtains the final estimate, perhaps simplifying a bit too much, as the magazine itself admits: "Probably, but so was the president's campaign promise."
After all, the authoritative had already thought about unmasking Obama last year Washington Post, which had awarded the little-coveted Three Pinocchios prize to the Democratic leader, the one reserved for the big lies and/or contradictions of the country's political leaders. After all, according to the calculations of the actuaries, the difference between promise and reality is clear: $22,500 in expected savings, $7,450 in additional spending, for a discrepancy of $30 over an eight-year period. And the best, according to Forbes, is yet to come. In fact, while in the first 4 years Obamacare cost families only 125 dollars more, according to the table in the magazine the first real blow will come in 2014, when spending will increase by 657 dollars per household, to then reach nearly a thousand dollars annually in 2015 and 2016.
“For a nation with the most complicated and expensive healthcare system on the planet, making it even more complicated and even more expensive was not a good idea”, writes Forbes which closes tragicomically: “The next time a politician makes such grandiose promises, let's watch our wallets. And in the meantime, let's hope to find 657 dollars in change among the sofas and cushions of the house within the next year”.
