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There was an October surprise last month but it had nothing to do with an election. It was the roll out of the federal Affordable Care Act otherwise known as Obamacare and the effort by congressional Republicans to delay the individual mandate which requires all Americans to have healthcare by January 1, 2014. The resulting government shutdown was derided as a fool's errand and the reckless actions of a few extremists who simply have no idea how to govern. The President and his allies in Congress refused to negotiate any delay in the individual mandate or any changes to his signature healthcare law. In a few short weeks after the government reopened, the dynamic changed once the true disaster of Obamacare began to unfold.

Since 2011, House Republicans voted over forty times to repeal or defund Obamacare but each time the Senate refused to consider any of the bills. In 2012, the Supreme Court in a split decision that even surprised the law's supporters upheld the law as constitutional. The court found that the requirement to purchase government packaged healthcare or pay a fine was actually a tax that was within the power of the legislature. During the presidential election, the debate was won by the President who was re-elected to a second term. The President and his allies in Congress repeated the mantra time and time again that every one who wants to keep their doctor and their existing healthcare plan could do so. That promise was the linchpin of the largest expansion of governmental power in American history, the transfer of one sixth of the American economy to government bureaucrats. This made it palatable for those in Congress who had any doubt about their political future to vote yes. After all, if everyone gets to keep their doctor and healthcare plan, the other ramifications of the health care law will get loss in the totality of the law's 1500 pages. Today reality is setting in.

Back in 2010, the President was well aware that millions of Americans would lose their doctors and existing healthcare plans. The Federal register reported that up to 93 million Americans would lose their existing healthcare plans. While this number included the much smaller individual market, it also included sixty six percent of small employer group plans and 45% of large employer group plans. The individual market is the one often cited by those who support Obamacare as the exception in terms of those plans that were canceled. They also referred to the plans that were canceled as "junk healthcare plans" which will be replaced by better plans. The problem with their talking points is that with each passing day, tens of thousands are receiving cancelation notices. Even if you wanted to purchase healthcare on the government exchange, the website still does not work. There are certain issues in the political arena that are complex and are not so simple. But when a President and his allies purposefully mislead the public, its rather simple; its called a lie. It comes down to an issue of trust.

The President recently addressed the issue of cancellations at a healthcare rally by telling Americans to shop on the exchanges for a new plan.  Even though there are other healthcare plans available, the mandates require that consumers purchase plans with every option even if you don't want it or need it. As a result, the plans cost significantly more. Again the President promised that his healthcare law would save the average consumer twenty five hundred dollars per year and again his promise was hollow. The costs also affect business. This is why thousands of companies have announced jobs cuts and shifting employees to part time status to avoid the requirement of providing healthcare. But even if they have to provide healthcare, many small companies cannot afford to so they will opt to pay the fine which cost much less. This will shift the burden onto to taxpayers which will require the ever larger expansion of Medicaid. This is precisely why the President shifted $500 billion from Medicare to Medicaid.

The so called Affordable Care Act will never work. The idea that the government can insure thirty to forty million more Americans without additional costs and no rationing of healthcare is the definition of insanity. It is the premise of big government and their desire to control every aspect of your life. The cancellation of your healthcare plan and the loss of your doctor is very personal. It is the overreach of an out of control government and will forever be equated with failure. The truth as expressed by Teddy Roosevelt more then 100 years ago remains true today, "The government is us, we are the government you and I". We are the masters of our government and the government is answerable to the People. The real October surprise will likely come in 2014 when there will be a referendum on the merits of Obamacare. There is no doubt about the outcome.