http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/08/part-1-august-2013-obama-care-update.html,
the fiascoes have just kept on coming, fiascoes that we are reviewing in a quick hit fashion this week.
1) The first review of disaster comes from the latest analysis by the Heritage Foundation where they documented the top ten disasters of Obama Care. Since they do a better job of describing them than I could, I have lifted their words and placed them below:
1. WAIVERS: The Administration established a legally questionable program of temporary waivers when firms announced they were considering dropping coverage rather than comply with the law’s costly requirements. Even though more than half of the recipients of these waivers were members of union plans, many union leaders are still not satisfied—they want another waiver, to receive taxpayer-funded subsidies for their employer-provided coverage.
2. ILLEGAL TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES FOR CONGRESS: Last month, following heavy lobbying from leaders in both parties—and an intervention from President Obama himself—the Administration issued a rule regarding coverage for Members of Congress and their staffs, who will retain their taxpayer-funded insurance subsidies in the exchanges. Unfortunately, as previous research has documented, the Administration had no legal basis on which to make this ruling.
3. EMPLOYER MANDATE: In July, the Administration announced it would not enforce Obamacare’s employer mandate until 2015, effectively granting big business a one-year delay. This action came despite language in Section 1514(d) of the law requiring employers to act “beginning after December 31, 2013,” and despite the fact that hard-working Americans are not getting a delay from the other harmful effects of Obamacare.
4. PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS: Immediately after Obamacare was signed, Democratic staffers admitted that under the law as written, insurers “still would be able to refuse new coverage to children because of a pre-existing medical problem.” The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) took it upon itself to issue regulations prohibiting plans from turning down such applicants three years earlier than the law required. As a result, insurers stopped offering child-only plans in 17 states, fearing that only parents of sick children would apply for insurance coverage.
5. OUT-OF-POCKET CAPS: Section 1302(c)(1) of the law includes caps on out-of-pocket expenses and explicitly states they are to take effect “beginning in 2014.” But earlier this year, the Administration delayed these new caps from taking effect as scheduled. What’s more, as The New York Times reported, the Administration made this unilateral change not by issuing rules subject to public comment, but by posting a series of questions and answers on an obscure website.
6. BASIC HEALTH PLAN: This government-run health plan for people above the Medicaid income level was created in Section 1331 of Obamacare as a way to promote “state flexibility,” but the Administration unilaterally delayed it for one year. One Democratic Senator criticized the Administration for this move, saying it does not “live up” to the law as written.
7. TAX DISCLOSURES: Section 9002 of Obamacare requires employers to report the value of workers’ health insurance on W-2 filings, effective for all “taxable years after December 31, 2010.” But the Administration unilaterally delayed this requirement, and employers did not have to report these data until after the 2012 presidential election.
8. HONOR SYSTEM: In July, the Administration announced it was placing most Americans on the “honor system” when it came to verifying their income and access to employer-provided health coverage. As prior research has documented, this move, coupled with loopholes written into the law, gives many Americans a strong incentive to “game the system” and obtain more in taxpayer-funded insurance subsidies than they should actually receive.
9. PRIVACY: Former HHS General Counsel Michael Astrue, when serving as Commissioner of Social Security earlier this year, complained strongly within the Administration about the security risks posed by Obamacare’s new data hub. However, the Administration overrode his objections, using what Astrue called “an absurdly broad interpretation of the Privacy Act’s ‘routine use’ exemption.”
10. TOBACCO PENALTIES: Section 1201 of the law allows insurance companies to charge smokers up to 50 percent more in premiums. But due to a “computer glitch,” those penalties will be limited for “at least a year”—meaning non-smokers may have to pay more as a result.
It’s sad when your top ten is really a bottom ten of failures.
2) How screwed up and behind schedule is this piece of legislation? Consider a recent article from Forbes that had an actual scorecard of Obama Care’s rollout history:
- As of the end of May, 2013, the Obama Care implementation schedule had failed to meet 9 of 12 deadlines that should have been done in the first year after the legislation was signed.
- It failed to meet 22 of 53 deadlines in the second year.
- Another 9 of those implementation deadlines became moot after Congress did not appropriate funds to complete the assigned tasks.
- In year three, the implementation effort had missed 10 out of 17 deadlines.
- This comes to a total of 41 out of 82 deadlines missed, just a measly 50%.
- If you exclude the 9 deadlines that became moot because Congress never appropriated the funds to meet them, the Obama administration missed 41 out of 73 deadlines, or 56%, still very pathetic.
A pitiful performance by this administration. But not unexpected. We have previously reported that only a very small part of the regulations needed to implement Obama’s Dodd-Frank financial industry reform legislation was completed several years after the law was enacted. One could not expect this type of lousy implementation performance for Obama Care given the history of incompetence by this administration.
3) In the middle of August, 2013, the clothing chain Forever 21 announced that it was capping some full-time workers at 29.5 hours a week as of August 18, resulting in a loss of the health coverage and other benefits offered to full-time workers. 29.5 hours per week is an important because….Obama Care forces employers to provide health care insurance for employees that work more than 30 hours a week. Thus, add the employees from this company that now have fewer hours, lower wage levels, and no insurance as a result of Obama Care.
4) Unions, early avid supporters of Obama Care have certainly done a major reversal in support if you consider a recent press release from the Teamsters union: “ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour workweek that is the backbone of the American middle class.”
When your major supporters are abandoning ship, maybe it is a time to reconsider whether or not this is a good thing to do.
5) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was interviewed in his home state of Nevada back on August 8, 2013 on a local radio station. He was taking questions from listeners when a union member called in and said he was worried that his health insurance coverage would take a hit under Obama Care. Reid’s response was pure political double talk when he first said: "He's [the union member calling in] exaggerating. ... I would recommend that he calm down and stop frightening people."
However, according to a Washington Examiner article documenting the exchange between Reid and the union member, Reid did appear to acknowledge that union members could lose access to some of their more generous health care policies, referred to as "Cadillac" plans. Bottom line according to Reid: don’t be afraid, don’t exaggerate, don’t frighten people. Oh, by the way, be very afraid, be very afraid when it comes to your union provided health insurance plan.
Enough for today. Unions bailing out, deadlines being missed left and right, and at least ten major screw ups as a result of the legislation. Makes you wonder how those in Washington can be so ignorant or blind to see that the monster that is Obama care is so bad, so crippling to every American’s life.
Worse of all, we are still not done, more quick hit disasters and idiocy from Obama Care tomorrow.
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