Last Sunday, I posted an article titled “Obamacare: They’re Making It Up As They Go Along”. I concluded the post as follows:
“‘Pass the law to find out what’s in it’? [A reference to the Nancy Pelosi quote] Heck, the Obama administration doesn’t even know on December 15 what is going to be in it on January 1.”
We have found out that was true because on Thursday the Administration handed out another round of exceptions and waivers. Here’s the new one:
“[A]nyone who received one of the cancellation notices [because there old plan didn’t meet the new Obamacare rules] – and there were at least several million – could get a hardship exemption from the mandate that goes into effect in 2014 or face its penalties. That hardship exemption paves the way for people to buy slimmed-down ‘catastrophic’ health plans under Obamacare if they choose.”
Of course, the Obamacare website had previously not allowed people above 30 to even see the catastrophic plans, so that means the website will have to be changed. Also, in some cases, the catastrophic plans are not that much cheaper than the “bronze” plans that the people couldn’t afford.
Ezra Klein, an Obamacare supporter, notes the problem that this new solution causes:
“6. [T]his puts the administration on some very difficult-to-defend ground. Normally, the individual mandate applies to anyone who can purchase qualifying insurance for less than 8 percent of their income. Either that threshold is right or it's wrong. But it's hard to argue that it's right for the currently uninsured but wrong for people whose plans were canceled.
7. Put more simply, Republicans will immediately begin calling for the uninsured to get this same exemption. What will the Obama administration say in response? Why are people who plans were canceled more deserving of help than people who couldn't afford a plan in the first place?
8. The same goes for the cheap catastrophic plans sold to customers under age 30 in the exchanges. A 45-year-old whose plan just got canceled can now purchase catastrophic coverage. A 45-year-old who didn't have insurance at all can't. Why don't people who couldn't afford a plan in the first place deserve the same kind of help as people whose plans were canceled?”
What are they doing? Do they have any idea? It’s probably not nice to say, but I am glad I was recently able to sign up for Medicare, so all of this mess doesn’t affect me. Directly. Yet. But it will affect me, and it will affect all of us, if they don’t get it fixed or figure something else to do. Because a mess this big is going to affect everybody’s healthcare – and it’s probably do it sooner rather than later.
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