So, the ObamaTax Mandate is scheduled to take full effect in 11 short months.
Or is it?
"The Obama administration took new steps ... toward implementing the individual mandate ... downplaying the scope of the unpopular provision by stressing rules that allow exemptions from the requirement to purchase insurance."
Hmm, now where have we heard that before?
Oh yeah: ObamaWaiver Mania.
Aside from the fact that the mandate itself has no teeth (well, unless one is expecting a tax refund), what's the point?
Or, as HHS Secretary Shecantbeserious opines:
"The mandate penalty "applies only to the limited group of taxpayers who choose to spend a substantial period of time without coverage despite having ready access to affordable coverage"
Of course, since plans will be guaranteed issue, community rated and required to cover pre-existing conditions, wouldn't this apply to every policy? And if, according to their own calculations, fewer than 2% of us will have to pay any penalty, then what's the point?
And then there's this:
"Some families could get priced out of health insurance due to what's being called a [feature of the ObamaTax] ... families that can't afford the employer coverage that they are offered on the job will not be able to get financial assistance from the government to buy private health insurance on their own."
So they face a selectively enforced mandate that requires them to purchase insurance they can't afford but for which they're ineligible for subsidies. What could possibly go wrong?
Or is it?
"The Obama administration took new steps ... toward implementing the individual mandate ... downplaying the scope of the unpopular provision by stressing rules that allow exemptions from the requirement to purchase insurance."
Hmm, now where have we heard that before?
Oh yeah: ObamaWaiver Mania.
Aside from the fact that the mandate itself has no teeth (well, unless one is expecting a tax refund), what's the point?
Or, as HHS Secretary Shecantbeserious opines:
"The mandate penalty "applies only to the limited group of taxpayers who choose to spend a substantial period of time without coverage despite having ready access to affordable coverage"
Of course, since plans will be guaranteed issue, community rated and required to cover pre-existing conditions, wouldn't this apply to every policy? And if, according to their own calculations, fewer than 2% of us will have to pay any penalty, then what's the point?
And then there's this:
"Some families could get priced out of health insurance due to what's being called a [feature of the ObamaTax] ... families that can't afford the employer coverage that they are offered on the job will not be able to get financial assistance from the government to buy private health insurance on their own."
So they face a selectively enforced mandate that requires them to purchase insurance they can't afford but for which they're ineligible for subsidies. What could possibly go wrong?
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