WH to issue another ObamaCare rule change -- to help Democratic incumbents

How blatant is this latest unilateral change from the Obama administration on the law they claim is working well? The Hill can’t avoid connecting the dots in its lead sentence:

Advertisement

The Obama administration is set to announce another major delay in implementing the Affordable Care Act, easing election pressure on Democrats.

As early as this week, according to two sources, the White House will announce a new directive allowing insurers to continue offering health plans that do not meet ObamaCare’s minimum coverage requirements.

ADVERTISEMENT

Prolonging the “keep your plan” fix will avoid another wave of health policy cancellations otherwise expected this fall.

The cancellations would have created a firestorm for Democratic candidates in the last, crucial weeks before Election Day.

Actually, HHS thought they had already avoided that outcome with its previous extension. That pushed off the deadline for plans to meet the requirements of ObamaCare until January 1, 2015, which is after the midterms. However, none of the geniuses at HHS seemed to know that insurers have to send out cancellation notices 90 days in advance, which would mean that letters would go out no later than October 1 … five weeks or so before the vote.

D’oh!

The extension itself is nothing more than a big lie anyway. It’s the Obama administration attempt to avoid having to deal with the “keep your plan” promise, but as this extension shows, the lie won’t get undone no matter what the White House tweaks in the deadlines. It’s just getting kicked down the road in a bald-faced attempt to avoid accountability for their serial dishonesty. The pain will come no matter what; Barack Obama and his team just don’t want to deal with the electoral consequences of it.

Advertisement

As The Hill points out, it also exposes the fierce urgency of now argument as a lie, too:

Allowing insurers to continue offering noncompliant health plans for several years would substantially alter the health insurance landscape under ObamaCare.

It would also undercut one rationale for the healthcare reform law.

The Hill quotes Obama warning about the dangers of low-cost health-care plans, and the need for government to force them out of the marketplace. Now that it’s his own political health and that of his fellow Democrats at risk, Obama and his administration are singing quite a different tune.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement