Since its inception, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) has
been nothing but trouble. Back in 2011, the CLASS act was delayed and then a year
later it was repealed. In April of this year, the ACA's Small business
Health Option Program (SHOP) was postponed until 2015.The Obama administration
then decided to delay the employer mandate until 2015. The reasons cited for this delay is the
complications of this program and for businesses to have time to adapt to the
law[1].
What is amazing is that he Individual Mandate is still in effect. The Obama administration has essentially
admitted that health reform has an incredibly complex regulatory system. Given
the complications for compliance, it will inevitably cost businesses money.
On July 9th, HHS
decided to delay another part of the law. HHS was planning to implement
anti-fraud measures into the law by verifying a person's income to determine
their subsidy eligibility. They were unable to achieve this goal in time and
this is now postponed[2].
Although the delay for employers has been put in effect,
which may not be legal, they are still spending tax payer dollars as if nothing
changed. According to Michael Tanner at the Cato Institute, the administration
has already spent $31million in advertising alone[3].
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been trying to recruit
businesses and celebrities to endorse health reform.
Also, along with spending millions to recruit celebrities,
HHS has already contracted with SERCO, a British firm, to help deal with the
expected health care applications. The contract is for up to $20 Billion[4].
So not only is the administration already spending millions of dollars on this
program, it's delaying one of its key components.
At this point it's just getting out of hand. There was
jubilation when Obamacare was passed; now it's a sore spot invoking nothing but
controversy. Flawed programs, repeals, and delays have plagued Obama's
signature achievement as President. Ezra Klein at the Washington Post is even
calling for the Employer Mandate to be repealed because it's bad policy[5].
While at this point in time it appears to be a defeat for the President, it may
prove to be a smart move to delay the mandate to after the election. If what
many fear is correct, businesses will suffer from the mandate, which would cost
Democrats many seats.
Even though democrats may be able to help protect
businesses, they will not be able to shield themselves from the possible
fallout from increased insurance rates due to Obamacare. The Wall Street
Journal reported that insurance rates from the exchanges for healthy
individuals could "double or even triple when they
look for individual coverage”[6].
This won't exactly bode well for the democrats who helped passed this
legislation. We can only hope the people will smarten up and call for repeal
before it is fully implemented. Thankfully, Obama has given Republicans more
time to challenge the law before it entraps all of the American economy.
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