Maybe not ever. At least not until after the 2016 election. Obamacare is on double secret probation.
ObamaCare’s implementers continue to roam the battlefield and shoot their own wounded, and the latest casualty is the core of the Affordable Care Act—the individual mandate. To wit, last week the Administration quietly excused millions of people from the requirement to purchase health insurance or else pay a tax penalty.
This latest political reconstruction has received zero media notice, and the Health and Human Services Department didn’t think the details were worth discussing in a conference call, press materials or fact sheet. Instead, the mandate suspension was buried in an unrelated rule that was meant to preserve some health plans that don’t comply with ObamaCare benefit and redistribution mandates. Our sources only noticed the change this week.
That seven-page technical bulletin includes a paragraph and footnote that casually mention that a rule in a separate December 2013 bulletin would be extended for two more years, until 2016. Lo and behold, it turns out this second rule, which was supposed to last for only a year, allows Americans whose coverage was cancelled to opt out of the mandate altogether.
Oops. Hey wasn’t that something the GOP wanted? And gosh, you don’t need to prove a thing.
But amid the post-rollout political backlash, last week the agency created a new category: Now all you need to do is fill out a form attesting that your plan was cancelled and that you “believe that the plan options available in the [ObamaCare] Marketplace in your area are more expensive than your cancelled health insurance policy” or “you consider other available policies unaffordable.”
Now you can escape Obamacare for having a bad hair day:
This lax standard—no formula or hard test beyond a person’s belief—at least ostensibly requires proof such as an insurer termination notice. But people can also qualify for hardships for the unspecified nonreason that “you experienced another hardship in obtaining health insurance,” which only requires “documentation if possible.” And yet another waiver is available to those who say they are merely unable to afford coverage, regardless of their prior insurance. In a word, these shifting legal benchmarks offer an exemption to everyone who conceivably wants one.
Obamacare is so toxic it’s going to destroy the democrat party
HHS is also trying to pre-empt the inevitable political blowback from the nasty 2015 tax surprise of fining the uninsured for being uninsured, which could help reopen ObamaCare if voters elect a Republican Senate this November. Keeping its mandate waiver secret for now is an attempt get past November and in the meantime sign up as many people as possible for government-subsidized health care. Our sources in the insurance industry are worried the regulatory loophole sets a mandate non-enforcement precedent, and they’re probably right. The longer it is not enforced, the less likely any President will enforce it.
This was predicted here
And here
And for those with zero long term memory (i.e. liberals) let’s fire up the Wayback Machine.
Obama:
“Delay the law. That’s not going to happen as long as I’m president”
and
Kathleen Sibelius:
“Delay is not an option”
Delay Obamacare? No way, say Florida Democrats
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz:
“They want to do everything they can to delay, repeal, strangle it in the crib, tear it out by root and branch.”
Obamacare is on life support. Seems your crazy uncle wasn’t so crazy after all.
Maybe they could promise “Obama Pot” as an incentive for signing up. Obama phones are like so 2008.
See author page
America is waking up to the reality as forecasted by the Tea Party Patriots and Republicans that 0-blamacare is a loser and Democrats lied about it from the start!! They told the truth in 2010 and took back the House in historic fashion and now reality will win the day in 2014!! It will be fun to watch the Democrats run from this issue but their strategy will fail!!
Well if you prioritize your expenses and drop your cable and cell phone, you can afford health insurance.
Also, if you are not required to file an IRS return, you are not required to obtain health coverage of any kind. This suits many of the working poor because they do not earn enough income to file a return, and they’re not exactly running in droves to sign-up for O-care or Medicaid.
A
And just think of the trouble I got into for suggesting that the wheels would fall off of this ridiculous government boondoggle.
I was termed racist, bigot, bible thumper, tea party member, and a number of opprobrious names which I will not repeat here.
“They said I couldn’t do it. And they were right. I couldn’t.”
All of the rules for designing and implementing a program to provide for 200,000,000 Americans were ignored in the preparation of the myriad lines of computer code which ostensibly would make the program easy to use.
Plans? What plans? We don’t need any plans. Our hearts are right.
The fact that the regime will not permit us to know how many putative participants have actually paid their first premium should be your first clue that the whole thing is a charade.
No Member of Congress who voted for the bill, were he/she to have actually read the bill, would recognize the bill as it now stands. But they didn’t read the bill. We now know what Pelosi meant: “you can’t know what is in the bill, because the rules haven’t been written yet.”
And the rules are still not written.
So much for a government of laws.
Not to worry, a boy-band entertainer is at the White House to help solve all of our health care woes.
This Care Act is so gosh darned Affordable.
http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/12/sebelius-says-obamacare-premiums-will-go-up-next-year/
@Kraken:
They have to go up since they’re not getting the pool they need to make the numbers work. Besides seeing the premiums increase, don’t be surprised if the deductibles will see a hefty increase as well.
Up until yesterday the government set up web sites could still not adjust to a change on one’s coverage plan…..
Not a new child.
Not a new spouse.
Not a new address.
Not even a new email account!
And this set of web sites cost well over the $9million they were accounting as the original cost.
Like over ten times that much…..and still counting!
Just the latest in the long list of lies from the right;
Cancer Patient Who Blamed Obamacare For ‘Unaffordable’ Costs Will Actually Save Money
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/10/obamacare-attack-ad_n_4937650.html
4.2 million signed up! Go Obamacare!
@This one:
The Titanic was the most advanced designed, unsinkable and safest sea-going vessel of it’s time, and signed up 2,224 eager passengers for its maiden voyage. It made it halfway across the Atlantic. Go Titanic!
@This one:
You do realize that the United States population is 317 million, right? It’ll be interesting to see if they get their 42 sign ups a minute.
With regards to Julie Boonstra, I would argue let’s wait and see what actually happens. ObamaCare has made many wonderful Utopian promises. Remember? If we liked our plan we could keep our plan. Period. If we liked our doctor we could keep our doctor. Period. Oops. It took us years before we found out what was in the bill after we passed it, and I expect there are many more Easter Eggs yet to come.
That was a paragraph from the Huffpo.
It is a partial truth only.
Unfortunately for Ms. Boonstra, some of her most effective medications are not on the approved list and so her purchases of them do not count toward either her deductible or her out-of-pocket expenses.
These cancer medications are quite expensive when not covered.
Her previous insurance did cover them all.
@This one:
The Obie admin has no idea how many of those have actually PAID a premium. You’d think they’d want to brag about the number of PAID policies. None the less they are well below their target of sign ups.
This is insurance from the Kamikaze insurance company.
But alas you are CLUELESS again.
Kracked said: “Remember? If we liked our plan we could keep our plan. Period. If we liked our doctor we could keep our doctor.”
….
It was you guys on the right who had a hissy fit over ‘You can keep your plan.’ Plans which didn’t cover such things as emergency room visits and certain disease which did not meet ACA standards required YOU the taxpayers to pay for these people. You made such a fuss that months ago, Obama decided to allow them to continue for a year. And thanks to the right we get to pay for these crappy plans with our taxes for another year or two.
I switched health care plans a few years ago. My doctor wasn’t part of the new system. I had to get a new doctor. Fact of life.
According to democorrupt propaganda there were 47 million Americans w/o medical insurance lusting for obamacare. If that is the case why haven’t there been 47 million enrollees.
@This one:
I hope for your sake your new plan covers mental health issues.
@This one: Facts eh?? How about the fact that over 5 million LOST their health insurance after o-blama said you could keep it “period”? What facts do you have to show of the 4.2million that supposedly signed up lost their health insurcance due to 0-blamacare. What fact do you have relevant to how many of those signed up actually paid their premium? 0-blamacare is a loser and even Democrats know it and are running away from it as fast as they can. In 2014 Republicans will win back the Senate thanks to 0-blamacare just as they won back the House in 2010 thanks to 0-blamacare. FACT!!
Obama: Yeah, a lot of you won’t be able to keep your doctor after all
D’oh!
@Observer:
Many are wondering this.
@This one:
So in other words, you’re saying that President Obama’s prolific lies are justifiable, because the Collective knows better. Is that correct?
@This one:
Yeah. So we hear now.
@This one:
Obamacare “liars” continue to emerge
Aw, This onan, does your beaux know you got out of the basement and are surfing the net?
When he finds out, you’re gonna spend the weekend in the gimp suit, again.
Admit it; you like the gimp suit.
Why the White House Kept the Opt-Out Exemption to the Individual Mandate Quiet
Is the Individual Mandate Dead? No. (But It’s Been Ailing for a While)
White House adviser: No individual mandate delay
@This one:
Just as I suspected. Julie Boonstra’s situation is more complex than the lower levels of the Collective is capable of understanding, so the upper levels of the Collective have misrepresented her situation in their quest to destroy her for daring to criticize Dear Leader’s Affordable Care Act.