“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States…”
Jason Howerton
The Blaze
11/14/2013
The Affordable Care Act, as passed by Congress, looks quite different today. President Barack Obama has unilaterally altered the law to delay the insurance mandate for businesses and make changes for lawmakers so they aren’t subject to the same health care regulations as the rest of the American people.
On Thursday, Obama announced that he would be making yet another change to the law by allowing Americans to keep their current health insurance plans, though there are several conditions included in his new pledge.
But that brings us to the question: Does the president of the United States have the legal or constitutional authority to unilaterally change laws passed by Congress?
“The short answer is no,” David Corbin, a professor of politics at King’s College in New York, told TheBlaze.
“However, the way he’s been operating on this bill is that he can make alterations as he goes along,” Corbin said. “And so far, he’s been allowed to get away with it.”…
The article continues at The Blaze.
Also at the site, Obama to Allow You to Keep Your Health Plan, But Also Require Insurance Companies to Say Obamacare Could be a Better Deal.
Preempting a House vote on Obamacare that would allow Americans to keep their current health insurance plans, President Barack Obama on Thursday announced a new administration policy to allow most people keep their current plans. But the new policy will also require insurance companies to inform customers they might have a better deal from the Affordable Care Act exchanges…
…This is consistent with the administration’s theme of characterizing most of the existing plans on the individual market “substandard,” compared to the plans that are being offered on the health care exchange…
…Obama called the pending House legislation a “brazen attempt” to do away with the Affordable Care Act and return to a “broken system.”…
Related: Defiant Obama: I won’t ‘gut’ health law
…The insurance industry largely ripped the proposal, saying it would undo much of the work they have done to prepare to implement the sweeping law.
Democratic lawmakers are still pursuing legislative changes, saying the administration’s fix doesn’t go far enough to help the millions of Americans receiving cancellation notices…
5 Big Questions About President Obama’s Health Law Tweak
…the president’s plan doesn’t resolve the mess. Indeed, it may have just compounded the law’s existing political and policy troubles. Big questions remain about how it will work, and how other parties will respond…
…5. Is it legal? Right now the administration is citing “transitional” authority to implement the change. But it’s all pretty vague. The idea, as with the delay of the employer mandate, is that transitional authority gives the administration the power to do what is necessary in order to put the law in place. But the power to take the steps necessary to implement a law doesn’t obviously apply here. What the administration is doing is using its authority to not implement a part of the law.
Update: ‘Fairy Tale’ Continues as Obama Proposes Extralegal Obamacare Fix
… As Texas senator Ted Cruz says, the president cannot fix an unfixable law. “We cannot ‘fix’ Obamacare. The damage has been done, as millions of Americans have already been made to pay higher premiums cialis 5 mg and lose their jobs, wages, and health care plans,” Cruz said today…
