Unions Bailing On Barack?

Pretty much every talking point used by U.S. President Barack Obama to sell his socialized medicine plan three years ago has been exposed as a lie.

“Obamacare” isn’t going to lower health care costs … it’s going to raise them (by more than $4,000 for the cheapest coverage option). It’s not going to reduce the deficit … it’s going to blow it up (by more than $1 trillion over the coming decade, according to the latest Congressional Budget Office estimates). And on top of that it’s a tax hike … even though Obama vowed that “under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.”

Then there was this doozy …

“If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what,” Obama said repeatedly in selling his proposal.

Yeah … not so much. In fact even Obama’s staunchest ally – Big Labor – has finally realized it got sold a bill of goods as it relates to this promise.

Why does Big Labor care? Because it operates costly health care plans – and it’s afraid the new law will result in these plans being abandoned in favor of government-run “exchanges.”

“If the workers can get benefits that are as good through Obamacare in the exchanges, then why do you need the union?” one industry analyst recently told the Associated Press.

Unions are already facing declining membership – particularly in the private sector. According to the latest U.S. Department of Labor data, only 6.6 percent of the private sector is unionized. All told, only 11.3 percent of the nation’s workforce is unionized – a 97-year low.

Obamacare’s exchanges are supposed to be implemented starting October 1 – although it remains unclear whether the federal government will make that deadline. After all, twenty-six states refused to implement Obamacare’s exchanges – effectively throwing that obligation back into Obama’s lap. Another seven states are running cooperative exchanges with the federal government.

In addition to the costs associated with erecting these plans, there’s concern that these government-run exchanges will not create sufficient “competition.” This is why U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) has predicted Obamacare’s implementation would be a “train wreck.”

Well, well … we said repeatedly that Obamacare was a tax-hiking, cost-raising, deficit-busting monstrosity … and we were right.

Like P.J. O’Rourke said, “if you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

Sadly, we’re all about to find out …

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