Yuval Levin:
When the Obama administration announced last Tuesday that they would be delaying Obamacare’s employer mandate and its associated reporting requirements by a year, many observers (myself included) noted that this could create problems for verifying eligibility for subsidies in the Obamacare exchanges.
Many if not all of the state exchanges, and presumably also the federally-run exchanges, were planning to use the required employer reports to facilitate the eligibility reconciliation that you have to do at tax filing time when people receive advanceable tax credits like those set to be offered in the exchanges. If employers weren’t required to provide reports for 2014, the process of confirming eligibility (that is, confirming that people receiving subsidies had in fact not been offered affordable insurance coverage at work) would become more difficult to pull off, since it’s not really clear what other data sources the exchanges would have, and the exchange subsidy system would therefore become that much more difficult to manage. On Thursday, Reuters quoted the spokeswoman for the largest and most important of the prospective state-run exchange systems echoing this concern:
California, said spokeswoman Anne Gonzales, “was planning to tap into information from large employers to verify employee health coverage. The exchange is currently evaluating how the delay in implementation of the large employer mandate will impact enrollment and verification.”
Other states clearly shared this worry about how they were supposed to confirm eligibility for subsidies. But on Friday, the Obama administration answered their question with what is becoming the familiar refrain of Obamacare implementation: “never mind.” Buried in a massive 600-page rule released without fanfare the day after July 4, the administration announced that it would effectively delay the requirement to verify eligibility in the state exchanges.
In 2014, applicants can more or less be deemed eligible for subsidies in the state-run exchanges if they say they are eligible. If it has no external sources of information regarding what insurance employers offer, the rule states, “the exchange may accept the applicant’s attestation regarding enrollment in an eligible employer-sponsored plan and eligibility for qualifying coverage in an employer-sponsored plan for the benefit year for which coverage is requested without further verification.” In fact, the exchanges are not only released from the obligation to verify whether applicants are eligible for employer coverage, they are also released from the obligation to confirm applicants’ statements regarding their household incomes before providing them with what is supposed to be an income-based benefit.
What’s to keep the states from enforcing this “law of the land” and it’s reporting requirements on businesses without Federal approval? Obama doesn’t want to enforce it, but that does not relieve these businesses from having to follow the law, nor does it preclude the states from demanding that businesses within their borders follow the law after Dec 30, 2013. If Holder doesn’t like it he can take it all the way up to the SCOTUS. Who will no doubt inform him that states can enforce Federal law and that, as the President can not unilaterally change the date of when the legislation goes into effect, the original date stands. The states can also require of the Federal and Supreme Courts a writ of mandamus for the IRS to enforce Obamacare, now that the law has made it a new primary duty of the IRS.
So, basically, the gov’t is saying, ”we trust you.”
And you’re the fool if you believe it!
Sure, if you have plenty of Obama bumper stickers and posters, a record of voting Dem. among your data mined by the NSA, then you can get away with murder….or subsidies you might not qualify for.
However, try to sneak one by on ObamaCare if you voted Republican or donated to TEA Party charities, bought books from right-leaning authors through on-line stores and watch out for the penalties!
This is just like the IRS (in fact it IS through the IRS) that will ”administer” whether or not a person qualifies for subsidies he asks for.
Another big opportunity to reward friends and punish enemies.
The diabolical nature of this latest leftist deception is stunning. Obama’s allies in blue states will keep quiet about their intent, but can’t you see them waiting until after the elections in 2014 to “suddenly” discover some legalistic excuse to retroactively penalize businesses that did not comply with Obamacare as passed with the Jan 2014 start date? And look at the position it puts red state/conservatives in, now having to argue FOR the implementation of Obamacare as the law was passed in Jan 2014, when previously we had been arguing to repeal all of Obamacare?
Obamacare delenda est
@Nan G:
I wouldn’t put it past Obama, his IRS and Holder to only enforce against “conservative” owned companies.
@Pete:
I believe that there were a few red states that decided to start the exchanges, so it would be logical for it to be those states that should require businesses to follow the law and do the requisite reporting. Also Obama’s waving enforcement only says that that his enforcers will not enforce the law. It does not waiver businesses from their responsibility under the law. Any business that takes Obama at his word and does not follow the requirements for them in the law,would be putting themselves at risk of later retroactive punishment.
There will be no comprehensive immigration reform this year.
Last week’s decision to delay the employer mandate (something that is not an option under the law) has caused Republicans to lose any and all trust in President Obama’s ability to faithfully execute the laws of the United States.
Stick the man with a fork .. he’s done.
@Neo:
After four and a half years of this administration, what damn fool Republican’s were there who actually trusted Obama?
Oh, wait. That would be McCain, Graham, Rubio & Flake.