David Harsanyi
Human Events
7/2/2013
Looks like someone finally read the bill.
The Obama administration is postponing the ‘employer mandate’ – which would levy financial penalties on businesses with more than 50 employees that fail to provide health insurance that meet the minimum standards and “affordability.” The move delays implementation of the entire unpopular law until after the next mid-term elections. A coincidence, no doubt.
From the Treasury Department statement:
Over the past several months, the Administration has been engaging in a dialogue with businesses – many of which already provide health coverage for their workers – about the new employer and insurer reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively. We recognize that the vast majority of businesses that will need to do this reporting already provide health insurance to their workers, and we want to make sure it is easy for others to do so. We have listened to your feedback. And we are taking action.
The press release from the administration is titled “Continuing to Implement the ACA in a Careful, Thoughtful Manner.” If comprehensive health care legislation had been passed in a careful, thoughtful manner we might have something a lot more constructive on our hands.
In any event, the decision prompts several questions. Among them: 1 -Can the administration unilaterally decide when and how a law is implemented? If so, can Congress decide when and how to fund it? 2- Why is the employer mandate delayed but not the individual mandate? 3 – Why is it that the populist Obama administration acts on complaints from large companies but fights all the way to the Supreme Court to levy fines on individuals?
Related: Here’s What Happens if You Don’t Sign Up for Obamacare
…”Healthy consumers could see insurance rates double or even triple when they look for individual coverage under the federal health law later this year, while the premiums paid by sicker people are set to become more affordable,” the WSJ’s Louise Radnofsky reports...
Obamacare Regulation Effectively Bars Catholics from Owning Health Insurance Companies
…Under this regulation, the only people who will be able to own and operate health insurance companies in the general American marketplace will be people willing to follow the Obama administration’s regulatory command that they facilitate and pay for abortion.
Catholics cannot do that.
Study shows veterans must navigate hundreds of forms, more than a dozen agencies for services
A new study released ahead of the Fourth of July holiday sheds more light on the tangle of paperwork facing America’s veterans — showing they’re up against as many as 613 forms across 18 agencies as they seek services…
Update: From Ace of Spades:
- Precedent: If One President Can Unilaterally Rewrite the Law of ObamaCare and Choose to Not Enforce It, Why Can Another President Not Do the Same, But Refuse to Enforce Any of It?
- Obama Will Delay Implementation of Employer Mandate Until 2015 Due to Strenuous Complaints from Businesses
…The Affordable Care Act is quite clear as to the effective date of the employer mandate. “The amendments made by this section shall apply to months beginning after December 31, 2013,” concludes Section 1513.
The executive branch is charged with enforcing the law, and it can of course choose not to enforce the law if it wants. But people can sue the federal government, and a judge could theoretically force the administration to enforce the mandate.
So the question is: Would anyone sue the Obama administration over this? Employers, of course, will be thrilled to be spared the mandate for one more year. Democratic politicians, similarly, will be glad to have this not hanging over their heads for the 2014 mid-term election.
The wild-card is left-wing activists. Most, you’d think, would defer to the administration on questions of implementation. I’m no lawyer, but it seems to me that all it would take is for one judge to issue an injunction, for an activist to require the administration to enforce the mandate…
… If the employer mandate were to ultimately be repealed, or never implemented, today’s news may turn out to be one of the most significant developments in health care policy in recent memory…
Smart Democrats are beginning to realize that they need to do everything they can to suppress the confusion and hide the cost of ObamaCare before the 2014 midterm elections.
Update 4: Senator Mike Lee tonight on Facebook:
The American people deserve the same protection as businesses. I am planning to introduce legislation when we get back in session next week to delay Obamacare for individuals too.
