OBAMACARE DEBACLE - Update 3/26/2014

[bsteadman]

Obama administration will allow more time to enroll in health care on federal marketplace

The Washington Post
Amy Goldstein
3/25/2014

Excerpt:

The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline.

Federal officials confirmed Tuesday evening that all consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension.

Under the new rules, people will be able to qualify for an extension by checking a blue box on HealthCare.gov to indicate that they tried to enroll before the deadline. This method will rely on an honor system; the government will not try to determine whether the person is telling the truth.

The rules, which will apply to the federal exchanges operating in three dozen states, will essentially create a large loophole even as White House officials have repeatedly said that the March 31 deadline was firm. The extra time will not technically alter the deadline but will create a broad new category of people eligible for what’s known as a special enrollment period. - (bold and color emphasis added in the preceding two paragraphs)

The change, which the administration is scheduled to announce Wednesday, is supported by consumer advocates who want as many people as possible to gain insurance under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. But it’s likely to be criticized by Republicans who oppose the law and have denounced the way the administration is implementing it.

Administration officials said the accommodation is an attempt to prepare for a possible surge of people trying to sign up in the final days before the deadline. Such a flood could leave some people unable to get through the system.

“We are . . . making sure that we will be ready to help consumers who may be in line by the deadline to complete enrollment — either online or over the phone,” said Julie Bataille, director of the office of communications for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency overseeing the federal health-care exchange.

The extra time will not be restricted, though, to people who wait until the last minute to try to sign up. Although no one will be asked why they need an extension, the idea is to help people whose applications have been held up because of the Web site’s technical problems, or who haven’t been able to get the system to calculate subsidies to help them pay for coverage.

According to a Health and Human Services official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about decisions that have not been made public, an exact time frame for this extension has not been set, and it will depend in part on how many people request it. Nor have officials decided precisely how long people will have to select a health plan after they get the extra time.

Starting in about mid-April, people will no longer be able to get extensions through HealthCare.gov. After that, consumers will be able to request one through one of the federally sponsored call centers nationwide. At that point, the grounds for an extension will become narrower, matching rules for special enrollment periods that have existed for the past few months. Those include people who have a new baby, are getting a divorce, lose a job with health insurance or had a technical problem signing up for coverage through HealthCare.gov.

Once the narrower rules take effect, people will still be trusted to tell the truth about why they need more time — a method known as “self-attestation.”

The new rules are similar to steps being taken — or contemplated — by some of the 14 states that are running their own health-insurance exchanges.
...........................................

View the complete article at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...d74_story.html

[bsteadman]

No Insurance Is Better than Unapproved Insurance Under Obamacare

Obamacare penalizes the ‘wrong’ insurance 18 times more than no insurance.

The Weekly Standard
Jeffrey H. Anderson
3/26/2014

Excerpt:

Would President Obama prefer that you have health insurance of which he doesn’t approve, or no health insurance at all? Well, based on the penalties in play under his signature legislation, it would appear that he prefers for you to have no insurance at all than to have the “wrong” insurance (as defined, of course, by his administration).

As those who have been following the Hobby Lobby case—argued before the Supreme Court on Tuesday—know, under Obamacare, the “wrong” kind of insurance includes policies that don’t provide “free” coverage of, among other things, the abortion drug ella, contraception, and sterilization (but only sterilization for women). (Coverage of cancer or heart disease—apparently being less essential—need not be “free.”)

If your employer offers you insurance that doesn’t provide free ella, or anything else on the list of “preventive services”—as defined by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and ultimately by Obama—then it’s subject to a fine of $36,500 a year. But if your employer doesn’t offer you insurance at all, it’s subject to a fine of $2,000 a year. Actually, for now your employer’s choice is between a fine of $36,500 or $0, as Obama has extralegally decreed that fines for not providing insurance (but not fines for providing insurance that doesn’t cover all “preventive services”) will be waived until after we get to the other side of the midterm elections.

As Rep. Diane Black (R., Tenn.) put it after the oral arguments, “Only Obamacare could create a system that carries 18 times the fine for providing insurance coverage to employees than for not providing any coverage at all.”
..................................

View the complete article, including video, at:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...re_786056.html

[bsteadman]

Here Are All the Times the White House Said Latest Obamacare Delay Wouldn’t Happen

Mediaite
Noah Rothman
3/26/2014

Excerpt:

Late on Tuesday night, the White House “decided to give extra time” to prospective Affordable Care Act enrollees. At least, that’s how The Washington Post put it, though it is unlikely that the changes they made to the ACA’s online infrastructure was the result of a spur–of–the–moment decision.

Administration officials maintain that they are simply giving consumers who may be interested in insurance, but have not yet selected or paid for coverage, an extra two weeks to complete the arduous enrollment process. They add that this extension is only available to those who have begun the process of enrollment by March 31.

How do administrators verify that a prospective enrollee is eligible for this grace period? They don’t.

“Under the new rules, people will be able to qualify for an extension by checking a blue box on HealthCare.gov to indicate that they tried to enroll before the deadline,” The Post reported. “This method will rely on an honor system; the government will not try to determine whether the person is telling the truth.”

“Until now, the March 31 deadline has been the date by which most Americans must choose a plan — or risk a government fine in the form of a tax penalty when they file their 2014 taxes next year,” The Post continued. “The fine will not apply to people who get an extension under the new rules and enroll in plans within the allotted time.”

Ignore for the moment that for young people, the target demographic to whom the president spent most of his March pitching the glorious benefits of health coverage, invoking “honor system” is an implicit admission of impotence and an acknowledgement that noncompliance will be consequence-free. This latest delay is functionally an extension of the open enrollment period for the ACA and a delay in the individual mandate – both of which are designed to ensure a robust mix of enrollees. Once again, the fiscal integrity of the ACA has been sacrificed in order to secure near-term political victory for the White House.

Beyond the craven expediency of this subversion of the letter of the law, the latest ACA delay exposes yet more mendacity from the administration. By checking a blue box on the ACA website, users will be able to avoid having the penalty associated with the individual mandate. That is, essentially, a delay in the individual mandate — something that administration officials insisted as recently as 10 days ago that they neither could nor would do.

“That will not happen,” said Senior Advisor to the President for Strategy and Communications Dan Pfeiffer on March 16 when asked by Meet the Press host David Gregory if the individual mandate would also be subject to delay.

“No, sir,” Health and Human Services Sec. Kathleen Sebelius assured members of the House Ways and Means Committee on March 12 when asked the same question.

“We have no plans to extend the open enrollment period,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokeswoman Julie Bataille told reporters on a March conference call. “In fact, we don’t actually have the statutory authority to extend the open enrollment period in 2014.”
.................................

View the complete article, including video, at:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/here-...ouldnt-happen/

[bsteadman]

Leading Dem Pollster to Candidates: ‘Don’t Defend’ Obamacare

Mediaite
Noah Rothman
3/25/2014

Excerpt:

On Tuesday, the much-anticipated George Washington University Battleground poll was released revealing a snapshot of the political landscape ahead of the 2014 midterm election cycle. Leading Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, whose firm Lake Research Partners provides the Democratic analysis for that bipartisan poll, shared her thoughts on the survey’s findings after it was released and warned vulnerable Democratic incumbents to ignore liberal pundits who say that they “embrace” the Affordable Care Act.

“In terms of Obamacare, don’t defend it,” Lake said bluntly at a briefing hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “Say it was flawed from the beginning, and we’re going to fix it.”

She added that the positive message Democrats can deploy for the midterm election cycle regarding the Affordable Care Act would be to highlight the law’s protections against the abusive practices of insurance providers. “Say, we’re not going to go back to the days of leaving you on your own with the insurance companies,” Lake advised.

She noted that voters are “exhausted” by the endless debate over the ACA and they want to “fix it, rather than start all over again.”

View the complete article at:

http://www.mediaite.com/online/leadi...end-obamacare/