President Obama’s legacy will largely be judged based on the most important piece of legislation he championed, the Affordable Care Act – usually referred to as Obamacare. President Obama has been claiming that Obamacare has been a triumph for him and his administration. The Obama administration has announced that over 8 million Americans have enrolled for health insurance under the Obamacare system. The President believes that this proves his signature law is a success, and he and his administration have declared that Obamacare “is working.”

However, President Obama’s approval numbers have never been lower. Only 37% of Americans approve of the way the government has handled the implementation of Obamacare and only 44% agree with the law. Despite the government’s claims that the new health care act is working, a strong majority of Americans are opposed to it. If Obamacare is such a success, if it is working so well, why are Americans so unhappy with it?

Well, to start with, the goal of Obamacare was to get health insurance for all Americans. While more Americans have health insurance this year than they did in 2010, more than 13% of Americans are still uninsured. On that level, Obamacare is clearly not working as well as the President would have us believe. Furthermore, while 14% of Americans say that Obamacare has been beneficial for them, 24% say that the reform has hurt them in some way.

Obamacare has hurt Americans in a variety of different ways. First of all, there are the increased costs. Americans have seen the cost of their health insurance premiums shoot up, nearly across the board, with customers in some states facing double digit rate increases. In a time when most American families are already struggling to pay the bills, President Obama’s health care plan has raised the prices to the point where many people are no longer able to afford their premiums.

Perhaps more upsetting than the rising cost of health insurance is the fact that many Americans have found that the insurance they already possessed was no longer considered adequate, and was cancelled. During the debate over the health care law, President Obama promised, “If you like your plan, you can keep it.” It turned out things were not so simple for many Americans, and millions have had their insurance plans cancelled against their will. Worse, many of these consumers who had their plans cancelled were then forced to purchase insurance that was significantly more expensive than their original plans.

It is far too premature for the President and his administration to declare Obamacare a success. When millions of Americans are being forced to pay for insurance they can’t afford, others are having their insurance plans cancelled, and millions upon millions are seeing their rates skyrocket. Meanwhile, there are still tens of millions of Americans without insurance, and health care costs continue to rise and rise.

There is no debate that the health care industry in the United States needs serious reform. There are a wide variety of problems, ranging from double charging of insurance companies to frivolous malpractice lawsuits to the fact that huge numbers of Americans are lacking access to basic medical care. However, a half-hearted bill aimed at reorganizing the way Americans access their health insurance providers does not provide a solution for any of these problems. We need a comprehensive health reform that will get health care costs down and make sure that every American can get the health care they need without bankrupting their families. When I am elected President, comprehensive health care reform will be one of my top priorities, and the first step will be rolling back Obamacare. Join me in 2016, by casting your write-in vote for Art Drew for President!