eNews Commentary • Jul 2013 • Health Care Reform - Obamacare • Health Exchanges -Obamacare

Obama’s Dangerous Delay

 

July 10, 2013
 

 

Obama’s delay is dangerous to freedom. On July 2, at 6:00 p.m. just before the Independence Day holiday, the administration quietly stated in a blog post (of all things!) that the Obamacare employer mandate would be delayed by one year, until January 1, 2015. The U.S. Treasury put out a separate blog post. There was no press release. This understated process was meant to make the delay look like “no big deal.” But it is.

The employer mandate requires employers with 50 or more full-time employees (30 or more hrs/wk) to offer health insurance. Obamacare requires the employer mandate to be in place in the “months beginning after December 31, 2013,” according to Section 1513. That is this coming January.
 
Can the President refuse to follow the law? Can he direct his administration to not impose the law’s mandate without the consent of Congress? Can Congress change our laws without the President’s signature? Despite conservative opposition to the law, the constitutional answer to all these questions is no. Thus, President Obama is engaged in unconstitutional regulatory meddling to meet his own political agenda.
 
What is Obama’s agenda? The White House blog posting says the administration needs to do more to explain the law to employers. Other surmise that the President wants to protect Democrats in the 2014 mid-term elections. Some say the computerized process for employer reporting under Obamacare is not yet ready. Still others note that the administration is already using the delay to argue for dismissal of ACA lawsuits.
 
This may be true, but I believe the delay is part of a much bigger, more dangerous plan. 
 
The delay will drive people into Obama’s Exchanges. The government Exchanges are key to imposing Obamacare. Obamacare fails without Exchanges. The Exchanges fail without sufficient people using them for coverage. What better way to fill up the government Exchanges than to drive individuals into them by continuing to impose the individual mandate (no delay) and delaying the employer mandate (letting employers wait one more year to offer insurance to individuals)?
 
Once individuals are in a government Exchange getting government coverage and federal subsidies, it will be easier for employers to leave them there. Employers may even choose to use government Exchanges instead of private insurance for coverage. Some will willingly pay the penalty which is less than the cost of coverage. Either way, mass enrollment of the healthy and employed would set the Exchanges – national health care implementation centers -- on solid financial ground long term.
 
This is exactly what the president wants.
 
Meanwhile, the Obama administration’s mass marketing of Obamacare Exchanges -- on your dime -- is headed your direction:
  • HHS just quietly handed out $198 million in Exchange grants to six states.
  • The Institute of Museum and Library Services met with the Obama administration and will provide $286,104 to engage public libraries in the Obamacare outreach and enrollment effort.
  • HHS just announced $150 million in grants to 1,159 health centers to fund 2,900 Obamacare outreach and enrollment workers.
  • Enroll America had 1,000 volunteers out on the street before July 4th beating the drum for enrollment in Obamacare Exchanges.
Help us counter this nationwide attack on our freedom! Post our “Refuse to Enroll” flier.
 
The U.S. House must respond vigorously. Republicans and conservatives should immediately push for delay of the entire law. They must defund the Exchanges and the federal grants for outreach, enrollment, navigators, and in-person assisters – as well as all the organizations who are taking federal dollars to promote the law. Then they must aim for repeal, because the law is not only unworkable (as all the delays indicate) -- it’s also unconstitutional.
 
 
Help CCHF keep the Obamacare troops from having the entire playing field — the heart and minds of the American people — all to themselves.
 
Working together with you for freedom,

Twila Brase
President and Co-founder