Mandate Delayed?

[tpeichel]

So we shut down the government because the ACA couldn't be modified and a week later, it looks like it will have to be modified. We are in the best of hands.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oba...me_latest_news

The health care law requires most people to have health insurance by Jan. 1, 2014 or face a penalty, but the Administration may postpone when those penalties will go into effect. The law allows for “short coverage gaps” of up to three months before imposing the penalty, which is $95 or 1% of an individual’s income (whichever is greater) next year. Under the current rules, someone would have to be covered by March 31, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed, which is the final day that people will be able to purchase health insurance on the public exchanges, or marketplaces, created by the ACA.

But the Administration is currently working to revise its policy to ensure that people who wait till the last day in March to sign up will not face a penalty, the HHS official clarified. That means that people may go uninsured till April or May without paying a fine, as it takes up to two weeks to process health insurance applications, and new health policies take effect on the first day of each month. A last-minute March 31 application, for example, might be processed by mid-April for coverage starting May 1.

[Wickabee]

You shut down the government because the Republicans can't handle losing by the rules.

But other than that, good thread.

[tpeichel]

I believe the Republicans offered a deal to keep the government open in exchange for delaying the mandate. They were refused and a week later it looks like they may delay the mandate anyways.

[AUTaxMan]

I believe the Republicans offered a deal to keep the government open in exchange for delaying the mandate. They were refused and a week later it looks like they may delay the mandate anyways.

That's true, although the strategy was very poorly implemented. I predict if Obamacare is delayed, most people will see it as a victory for the reps, and it will offset whatever negative press they get from the shutdown.

[Wickabee]

I believe the Republicans offered a deal to keep the government open in exchange for delaying the mandate. They were refused and a week later it looks like they may delay the mandate anyways.

Delaying something that is already through.

That's like trying to play overtime after a loss.

[tpeichel]

So it looks like the President unilaterally changed another law.

[tpeichel]

I guess the campaign event in the Rose Garden where the President talked about how great everything was going with the ACA, wasn't one hundred percent truthful.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mo...healthcare-gov

[habsheaven]

Blah, Blah, Blah. You guys really need to lift the needle on that record your playing. Any delay now would be the result of the bungled rollout of the website and would be designed to allow people the necessary time to do so. The "delay" the Republicans wanted was designed to bring the whole thing down. It won't be a "win" for the Republicans; it certainly won't cancel out the ill will they earned with their foolishness by putting so many people out of work.

At the end of the day, the ACA is going to be seen as a great achievement. Watch for when the opponents of it start calling it the ACA. You will know then that the Republicans have seen the light and want no part of the phrase "Obamacare" anymore. lol

[tpeichel]

It won't succeed if they can't get young people to sign up and subsidize the old and the sick.

[tpeichel]

I guess the tech surge wasn't going to solve the problem quickly enough? Perhaps someone with software project management experience explained to the President that you don't ramp up new resources on a project overnight, especially with something as complicated as healthcare.gov.