MORE OBAMACARE POSTPONEMENTS AND OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

Written on May 16, 2016.

The Administration announced in October that it was postponing for individuals their obligations to sign up for healthcare without penalties for about six weeks. On October 23, the Administration announced that if consumers sign up for mandated healthcare coverage by the end of March, they will not face the $95.00 (or 1% of income) individual penalty. A White House official denied that pushing back the sign-up requirement was related to the problems with healthcare.gov, and explained it as an effort to eliminate a "disconnect" over the deadline for individual coverage.

The current situation has generated somewhat of a backlash in the President's own political party. While the recent government shutdown triggered an Administration position that ObamaCare would not be postponed under any circumstances, immediately thereafter the Administration announced its own postponement, and a number of prominent members of the President's own political party have proposed further postponements. CNN reports that all sixteen Senate Democrats up for re-election are expected to support a proposal from Democratic New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen to both extend the ObamaCare enrollment deadline and waive tax penalties for those unable to enroll. Republicans have been proposing for some time a delay of the individual penalties, much like the employer penalties were delayed one year, to calendar year 2015.

Meanwhile, fingers continue to be pointed between the Administration and various contractors, as to who is responsible for the numerous glitches on the healthcare exchange website. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is running all or part of the exchanges in 36 states, has repeatedly declined to answer questions about its handling of the rollout, including specific glitches, enrollment figures, or its plans to fix the problems. Supposedly only about 25% of those attempting to register have been successful, and there have been massive errors in the enrollment data recorded, reportedly requiring insurers to go to a manual process to complete the enrollment properly. HHS has pressured insurers to refrain from commenting publicly about the problems.

These issues not only affect adversely the reputation of ObamaCare, but also discourage younger and healthy consumers from enrolling, which means that unhealthy persons will enroll and will increase the cost of programs on the State exchanges.