Originally published August 15 2013
Obamacare now clearly a bait-and-switch scheme as out-of-pocket cost caps are pushed aside
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) The quest by conservatives to defund Obamacare continues unabated, but the fact of the matter is, those who have said the law will collapse in on itself are looking more like prophets than doomsayers.
If you doubt that, think for a moment just how many times the White House has altered or delayed various provisions of this atrocious entitlement. Obama has granted scores of political allies various Obamacare waivers; he has suspended the employer mandate requiring businesses with 50 or more full-time employees to cover their workers for a year; he has enabled Congress and congressional staffers to be exempt; and now, we learn, he secretly delayed another main provision of the law: limits on out-of-pocket costs for consumers.
Oh, well, there were 'technical problems'
From The Hill newspaper:
The cap, which includes deductibles and co-payments, was supposed to limit consumer costs to $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. But administration officials have quietly delayed the requirement for some insurers, allowing them to set their own limits starting in 2014.
The decision to delay implementation of this major provision was first outlined on the Department of Labor's website in February, but it was only recently noticed.
The Hill quoted an unnamed administration official who said the cap was aimed at protecting "consumers from the worst insurance company abuses, by banning discrimination based on a pre-existing health conditions [sic], ending lifetime and annual limits on what an insurance company will cover, and capping out-of pocket spending to protect Americans and their families."
"The February guidance builds on these landmark consumer protections by requiring that health plans limit out-of-pocket spending for major medical coverage for the first time, in 2014, on time," the official said. "This single limit will apply to additional benefits in 2015."
And yet, Obama delayed it's implementation; what does that tell you? It tells me that Obama is playing to the very same insurance companies he once criticized. And why? Because with the caps in place health insurers would have to raise rates - a lot - and we just can't have that in an election year.
As expected, the administration is defending its move. In comments provided to The New York Times, another unnamed government official said the delay was only occurring because of technical and logistical issues among insurers who each use different computer systems.
"We knew this was an important issue," the official said. "We had to balance the interests of consumers with the concerns of health plan sponsors and carriers, which told us that their computer systems were not set up to aggregate all of a person's out-of-pocket costs. They asked for more time to comply."
Sure they did. If you can't see by now that big insurers, along with big donors and other big wigs, are acting in collusion with the federal government on this, you aren't looking.
The delay has created some strange ironies, however - such as putting the Republican leadership in the unnatural position of actually criticizing Corporate America.
So much for being 'saved' by Obamacare
"Once again the president is giving a break to big businesses struggling with his health care law while individuals and families unfairly remain stuck under its mandates," said Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a statement. "This report is just the latest evidence that the law is too costly and too complex to work - and that it's not being implemented fairly."
"Almost as troubling as the continued failures of the law's implementation is the lack of transparency," he continued. "Burying this announcement online in a 'maze of legal and bureaucratic language' shows little concern for the promises with which this law was sold. What else in the law isn't working that we don't yet know about?"
Boehner went on to say that "American families" also "deserve a break" from Obamacare's ravaging mandates.
But they aren't likely to get them. They didn't contribute enough to Obama's presidential campaigns.
If Obamacare, which was supposed to save U.S. healthcare, can be endlessly delayed and manipulated, then you have to ask yourself why the law was ever necessary in the first place.
Sources:
http://atlanta.cbslocal.com
http://thehill.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
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