On Sixth Birthday,  ObamaCare’s Snuffed Candles

Out, out, brief candle!

Shakespeare,  MacBeth

On its sixth birthday,  these ObamaCare candles were snuffed out because of losses.

• $1.2 billion in startup loans for ObamaCare's 12 (out of 23) failed insurance co-ops.

• $1.5 billion in failed or unrealized state-run health exchanges — and not one of the remaining 14 is fully functional, according to a government audit.

• An estimated $45 billion for the 165 million hours that businesses and individuals spent trying to comply with ObamaCare's 106 new regulations.

• $750 million in public subsidies to more than 500,000 people who weren't eligible for coverage.

• $3.5 billion diverted from the Treasury to insurance companies to help cover their losses.

For all thegovenment's happy talk about gains in the public's insurance coverage (except, of course, for the unfortunate folks who signed up with one of the government's failed insurance co-ops), the reality is a burgeoning, unsustainable government bureaucracy that is on pace to cost considerably more.   As with most government ventures,  it's something gained, something lost.

Oh, well, it’s only $52 nbillion of taxpayer money – and the time and effort of businesses and individuals who supported or sought to comply with the health law.