The Obama administration plans to delay the start of next year’s ObamaCare enrollment period, a move pitched as a way to give consumers and insurance companies more time to study their options – but which also conveniently pushes the second round of enrollment past the 2014 midterm elections.
A Department of Health and Human Services official confirmed the change to Fox News. The decision does not affect those trying to enroll this year, despite the myriad problems with the launch of the law and HealthCare.gov. Rather, it affects those who will sign up late next year for 2015 coverage.
The administration will allow consumers to start signing up on Nov. 15, 2014, as opposed to Oct. 15. Enrollment will last until Jan. 15, 2015, instead of Dec. 7.
An HHS official told Fox News the move will give insurers “the benefit of more time to evaluate their experiences during the 2014 plan year” and let them take into account late-filing customers when setting their 2015 rates.
The official added: “This change is good news for consumers, who will have more time to learn about plans before enrolling and an open enrollment period that’s a week longer.”
The administration so far has rebuffed calls to delay or extend the current enrollment period beyond March 31, 2014, even as HHS scrambles to repair the flawed HealthCare.gov site and some states struggle with their own exchanges.
But by pushing off next year’s enrollment period, the administration conveniently pushes off the possibility of any ObamaCare hiccups until after the midterm elections. Some of the biggest critics of the current rollout have been Democrats up for reelection next year.
Obama recently tried to address some of their concerns by allowing states and insurance companies to re-offer cancelled insurance policies – a trend which has become a major headache for the administration. Many states, though, are refusing to make any changes to the way they handle those plans.
HHS argued that the delay next year will give consumers more time to educate themselves about the plans, though it would not affect coverage this year.
I’ve had it with this guy. I can’t wait to see an impeachment. Not counting on it. What does this guy have to do to actually be held accountable. He acts like a king and creates his own rules.
President Obama’s refusal to allow journalists to photograph him at key events has now drawn the ire of the White House Correspondents’ Association, which joined other media outlets in sending a letter of protest to the president’s press secretary, Jay Carney.
The letter accuses the White House of restricting photojournalists’ access to the president to a degree far greater than any previous administration.
“As surely as if they were placing a hand over a journalist’s camera lens, officials in this administration are blocking the public from having an independent view of important functions of the Executive Branch of government,” wrote the WHCA.
This is what happens when you pass a law in the manner the ACA was passed, and having a sitting president who has whined on multiple occasions that his limits on power make it too hard to govern. So he just ignores the traditional limits, and does whatever he wants.
I just don’t get why there is more outrage over this. All I hear from skeptical parties is that “well… his authority to do this is questionable” or “he’s on shaky ground” etc. Not one person has stood up and said hell no.
The inability of people to understand precedent is mind boggling.
Agreed JP. Noone steps forward. Its amazing. Everyone just complains he and much of current Washington are getting away with tyranny. The more they get away with it, the worse it will get. Yesterday’s Nuclear Option vote is a great example. A few guys just whined but that’s it. You can now pass all your radical legislation easier and put any radical judges you want in place to transform is forever.
Democrats and other statists will be in an uproar if the tables turn. I bet they’d want a vote to reverse it.
Most of the media are leftists, and the left in general has been radicalized to the point they’re fully on the ‘the ends justify the means’ wagon. So this type of shit is ok as long as its a Democrat doing it. Same way, when the Dems were a minority in the Senate, they were acting like the gov was coming to an end when the Republicans merely threatened the nuclear option. The Dems actually do it, and the media is jumping through hoops to justify it.
We just don’t have a media in this country that is on the side of the people or willing to act like watchdogs. Thats why the press has consideration in the Constitution. The media/press/journalists have consideration because they’re supposed to fill a roll in society to spread the word on whats going on in the government. They do not have consideration to act like the propaganda arm of the government and their favored political party. But thats what is happening. The difference in how Bush was treated and how Obama is treated is remarkably different. Just look at gas prices. Bush had a short period of high gas prices, and it was on the news constantly with him getting the blame. Obama has had high gas prices his entire time in office, and not a peep.
Gitmo was constantly in the news when Bush was president, Obama promised to close it down, it’s still open, and you rarely hear anything about it.
Our side is going to have to stop taking the high road and allowing the Dems to steam roll us and paint us into the corner whenever they want. The high road isn’t working.
Always love your posts Belmont. Another example is Afghanistan. Obama lied and is and always planned to, keep troops there far into the future. 2014 was a lie. Looking more like 2024 or later to help Afghanistan rebuild and establish security. What garbage. Anyway, not a peep.
One thing I have heard little about is the new reimbursement structure with the plans being sold in the exchange. Forbes did an extensive study, and the average premium increase is around 45% with young people seeing over 200% increases in many places.
But, even with such huge increases, the Exchange plans are basically paying out government reimbursement rates to doctors. So a lot of doctors are leaving the groups/networks insurance providers setup. Not only was ‘If you like your plan you can keep your plan’ a lie, but in many cases so is ‘If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor’. At this point its a gamble if your doctor will be taking insurance if you get thrown into the Exchange.
This won’t impact a majority of the people yet because most people have employer provided coverage but that shoe is going to drop next year.
Texas Oncology, which is a major cancer treatment practice in Texas, is flat out not accepting insurance sold in the Exchange. The reimbursement rates are simply too low. So not only are a lot of people paying MORE for insurance now but they’re going to find themselves being refused at doctor’s offices all over the place. People in the individual market who had their insurance cancelled might have been in the middle of a treatment program, and will have to find a new office that will treat them. Will get the same quality of care? I doubt it.
This is why Democrat’s ideas are so dangerous. They don’t understand basic economic theory, and when their ideas fail they almost always come up with something even worse as a ‘fix’. All these people are going to have to find a different provider which is probably not going to be as good, and we get de facto rationing because there is only going to be so many doctor’s out there willing to treat people with Exchange plans. Those people are going to find longer waiting lines, lower quality care, and a much smaller number of treatment options. The prices for people with employer provided insurance are going to go up because the doctors still seeing them have fewer patients.
Once Obamacare takes full effect there is going to have to be a big fix. That fix is going to be very different depending on who is in office. A lot of damage being done is not going to be repairable. We’ll have millions of people who are now reliant on the subsidies. Gonna take away their ‘affordable insurance’? Pay even more money to increase the reimbursement rates? Obamacare is doing exactly what it was designed to do, and that is the left taking a giant shit on private medical care to throw it into so much chaos the only way to fix things is a giant government take over with a huge amount of increased spending. The days of quality care for millions is already over, and people on employer plans are going to be in the same boat before too long. Only those with very expensive employer provided insurance and gov employees are going to get the good quality care people were getting before. People on Exchange plans…good luck. Its crappy insurance at a much higher cost.
I caught a bit a few weeks ago about the dems supposedly talking about trying to pass a new law (shocking right) that would to put it simply force Docs to accept insurances that are being offered in the exchanges, you know because its fair.
Honestly I’m surprised no one has started publicly touting single payer yet as the fix.
They have been. Alan Colmes has been on Fox, and last time I saw him on he basically shrugged his shoulders at the Obamacare problems, and said single payer would fix all of these problems. He’s not the only one I’ve heard on the news in the last month say similar things.
And don’t forget both Reid and Obama said Obamacare is the stepping stone to single payer. They had to destroy private medical care first. Obamacare is doing that, and if they manage to get a big fix in it that will likely be the last nail in the coffin to private medical care in the US.
Lets say from a happy dream the real conservatives take back the Senate. How are we to fix this? Repealing Obamacare is one thing, but we still need to put something in place to fix the last problem of rising medical costs. My knee-jerk reaction is nationwide insurance providers as oppose to state only, and major tort reform.
On topic: we need to be out in the streets yesterday and calling for his impeachment.
That was all that needed to be done in the first place. And to think that bill could have been drafted on a dam 3x5 card!
But not one person in congress or anywhere else of significance I recall bothered to run those numbers.
So instead were stuck with a problem created by government, and continued to be made worse by government all the while the involved entities hurl lack luster insults at eachother over twitter daily.
As previously stated, open up insurance across state lines.
Ya know, delaying the sign up for employers and individuals just ensures the destruction sooner, running out of money faster, who’s to say this also wasn’t the plan all along. Pushing past the 2014 elections is another bonus…
Agreed everyone needs to stand up to him, if nothing else to teach future Presidents you can be held accountable for your actions. Think about what stunts will be pulled next go around if future Presidents sees lack of restraint of power?? A dog will wonder just as far as his leash will let 'em…