“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Like an Oval Office Pontius Pilate Obama tried to wash his hands of the disaster of his own creation affectionately known as Obamacare.
Bowing to pressure, President Barack Obama on Thursday announced changes under his health care law to give insurance companies the option to keep offering consumers plans that would otherwise be canceled.
The administrative changes are good for just one year, though senior administration officials said they could be extended if problems with the law persist. Obama announced the changes at the White House.
“This fix won’t solve every problem for every person, but it’s going to help a lot of people,” the president said.
The political calculus is classic Obama- deflect the responsibility from himself and direct it to the insurance carriers. The irony is that Obama, who was unable to construct a functional website after three years, is now sticking insurance carriers with the burden of reviving the plans they had to cancel in order to meet Obamacare regulations after those same three years. And they need to do it in days, not years.
It’s an actuarial nightmare and it is not a “fix.” All Obama is doing is taking a steaming pile of dog excrement, putting it into a plastic bag, setting it on the stoop to be taken out and rewarmed next year.
Obama’s “fix” is a huge problem to insurance companies:
Health insurance industry consultant Robert Laszewski told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Thursday night that President Obama’s ObamaCare fix “makes everything so much worse” for insurance companies attempting to implement the new law.
Laszewski said on “The Kelly File” that the deadline for Americans to sign up for insurance coverage that will be effective Jan. 1 is Dec. 15 — a deadline the insurance industry has been working for months to prepare for.
However, Laszewski said Obama’s announcement that insurance companies can offer Americans their current plan for another year even if it doesn’t meet the law’s requirements means insurers only have 31 days to “reverse everything they have been doing.”
“Now they are saying to the insurance industry you have to turn on a dime and redo everything,” he said.
And his “fix” could make things worse:
Insurance companies already have devised plans for next year, received the necessary approval from states and begun to sell policies. They aren’t required to continue to offer their existing policies and state insurance commissioners aren’t required to approve those 2013 plans.
“Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for consumers,” Karen Ignagni, the president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, which represents the industry.
Obama’s stopgap measure echoes the failure of his lies that you would be able to keep your plan:
Washington state’s insurance commissioner, Mike Kreidler, announced Thursday he won’t allow insurers to extend their policies, saying Washington’s state-based exchange was “up and running and successfully enrolling thousands of consumers.”
“We are staying the course,” said Kreidler, a Democrat who’s one of the longest-serving state insurance commissioners in the country.
Someone didn’t get the memo.
Still, there is arguably a greater issue in play- where does Obama get the Constitutional authority to rewrite law at this whim from the Oval Office?
Obama has already rewritten establish law. He altered the ACA when he unilaterally delayed the business mandate and additionally selectively enforces immigration laws.
Howard Dean isn’t sure where he gets the authority to offer the current “fix.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPI7rABWI9c[/youtube]
Question: What other laws could Obama choose not enforce- the civil rights of conservatives?
Then again, it could be argued that he’s already doing that.
Rep. Fred Upton is offering a plan to that would allow Americans to keep their plans and other to buy the same.
The Republican congressman behind a proposal that would allow insurers to continue selling health plans that would otherwise be banned under ObamaCare told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Thursday his solution is “a better answer” than the president’s to fix the health law.
Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan said on “On the Record” that Obama’s solution “discriminates” against some Americans because it only allows people to keep their current plans. Upton’s bill would not only allow Americans to keep the health plan they like, it would also allow others to purchase those plans if they wished.
Obama has threatened to veto it.
I have a suggestion for Upton. He should make a few amendments to his bill, then put it in a manila folder and seal it and then bring it before the House, Senate and Obama, saying
“We have to pass it to find out what’s in it.”
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.