Patterico's Pontifications

7/2/2013

ObamaCare Employer Mandate Suspended Until 2015

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 5:27 pm



On the one hand, it seems good to have a God-awful policy delayed for a year — even if the electoral motivations behind it are more than obvious. On the other hand, if you have to eat a crap sandwich, why not start chewing early?

Businesses won’t be penalized next year if they fail to provide workers health insurance after the Obama administration decided to delay a key requirement under its signature 2010 health-care law.

The government will postpone enforcement of the so-called employer mandate until 2015, the administration said today. Under the provision, companies with 50 or more workers face a fine of as much as $3,000 per employee if they don’t offer affordable insurance.

Note how the article terms as a “fine” or a “penalty” that which Obama administration lawyers argued, and the Supreme Court ruled, was a tax, and not a fine or a penalty. Anyway. [UPDATE: Actually, never mind, that analysis applies to the individual mandate, not the employer mandate. I blame Ace. Not that my mistake is his fault in any way. I just . . . blame Ace.]

I started to write a post questioning how a President can unilaterally suspend the collection of a duly passed tax, but then I decided to read the whole article I linked. This is the kind of diligence you get for your blogging dollar, folks! Anyway, the article says:

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allows the Obama administration to set the starting date for the employer coverage reporting requirement that’s the linchpin of the mandate. The administration had not yet announced a date, one of the officials said. Still, enforcement of the mandate had been widely expected to begin in 2014, the official said.

I guess I’ll take their word for it. If this is right, maybe we can just delay enforcement . . . forever.

By the way, the stated rationale for this is that businesses need time to comply. But guess what? Businesses all over are freezing their hiring because of ObamaCare.

Small business owners’ fear of the effect of the new health-care reform law on their bottom line is prompting many to hold off on hiring and even to shed jobs in some cases, a recent poll found.

. . . .

Forty-one percent of the businesses surveyed have frozen hiring because of the health-care law known as Obamacare. And almost one-fifth—19 percent— answered “yes” when asked if they had “reduced the number of employees you have in your business as a specific result of the Affordable Care Act.”

Which, duh. It’s a crap policy, designed to run our economy straight into the toilet. But I guess it would hurt Democrats in 2014 to implement it starting in January. As Allahpundit notes, this move means the political pain will be saved until 2016. No matter to Obama. He can’t run again, and that’s all he cares about.

84 Responses to “ObamaCare Employer Mandate Suspended Until 2015”

  1. The great Iowahawk tweeted the following:

    After careful study, I have decided to delay obeying US marijuana laws until 2015. #InvokeTheObamaRule— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 2, 2013

    JVW (23867e)

  2. We have seen that they simply waive laws for their political allies, and choose to not enforce laws for preferred classes of people. Couple that with the SC decision that allows Executives to simply not defend laws that they don’t like, why would t be have the power to simply delay, postpone, or waive this until politically expedient? Remember the leftist mewling and howling over Bush and the rule of law? Pikers compared to Teh One. The law is what Teh One says it is.

    JD (620716)

  3. JD, this must be what Great-Aunt Nancy Pelosi meant when she told us that we would learn all about this bill once it was passed. Who knew that the implementation date would be, “Oh, whenever it’s politically expedient”?

    JVW (23867e)

  4. You know, I’ll bet some worker bee at the White House is going to be in a whole mess of trouble for leaking this news on July 2 when it was clearly meant to be released at 4:50 pm on July 3, the day before the holiday.

    JVW (23867e)

  5. They are not eating their live toad.

    htom (412a17)

  6. As I said on Hotair, this is the beginning of the end of Obama’s “legacy”. Obama is running scared. Scared of the immense damage his policies are doing to the economy.

    And he’s grasping at straws to find a way to evade responsibility.

    But Americans increasingly know this: Obama found a prostrate American economy and kicked it in the groin repeatedly to make sure it stayed down.

    SPQR (768505)

  7. Dog food not so tasty, huh?

    Rodney King's Spirit (ae12ec)

  8. Patterico,

    I’m pretty sure that the employer fines are in fact fines. It is (unfortunately) settled law that businesses are in fact engaged in commerce and all commerce is interstate commerce and therefore all businesses can be regulated. And penalized or fined.

    People, however, are not businesses, so we get a tax instead. I fully expect THIS tax to be waived for the election year, but that hasn’t happened yet.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  9. The narcissism of Obama combined with his youth means that the Obama albatross will pester the Democratic party for a long time after he leaves office.

    Obama has already been an electoral disaster for the Democratic party (aside from electing himself), and other than court appointments his legacy I suspect will be poisonous. Particularly the legacy of race baiting.

    I can hardly wait to see the Obama administration reaction to the probable acquittal of Zimmerman, and the likely rioting in the aftermath. It’s going to be a hot summer in more than one sense.

    Brad (e6557d)

  10. It gets them past the 2014 election. That’s what they are scared of.

    elissa (c183db)

  11. It is also not clear that this will help Obama. He’s doing it because the employer-side of the Obamacare exchanges won’t be in place by 2014, but there are a LOT of his supporters who thought they’d be getting free medical care and won’t, at least not through their employer. They’ll be unhappy. Add Darth Obama’s new image to that, and the doubling of insurance prices to the unsubsidized on the private market and you have a recipe for electoral disaster.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  12. #11 I agree, the exchanges look to be a disaster anyway and that might be enough to get electoral momentum.

    2015 Employer hit might just send the economy into the toilet for 2016.

    Rodney King's Spirit (ae12ec)

  13. What legal authority does Obama have to refuse to implement a law that states it takes effect immediately after December 31, 2013?

    Steve57 (192f26)

  14. I think this may have more to do with the fact that they just weren’t on schedule to get it implemented. It would actually be somewhat surprising if Obama recognized that this would have a negative impact on the economy. In their world mandates, regulations, cost impositions, taxes etc. can’t have a negative impact. It’s those evil Republicans that think that way.

    Gerald A (b44a50)

  15. I am in complete agreement with Kevin M. above that I expect the individual side of the mandate to be waived for 2014. It makes no sense to waive the business side but not the individual since they are tied together. Stupid not to announce the waivers together.

    Am I missing something?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  16. Gerald A. – A government plan not on schedule? The devil you say!

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  17. Entonces, el Presidente Baracquilla Husseinez Ramirez Obamando es muy macho y es muy magnifico! Viva Los Estados Bananicos…VIVA!!!!!

    Colonel Haiku (936c03)

  18. but there are a LOT of his supporters who thought they’d be getting free medical care and won’t, at least not through their employer.

    More wondrously and gloriously, they’ll either have to pay more in taxes (if they choose to go without health insurance and accept the penalty or, er, uh, tax) or they’ll have to dig down deeper and select the even more expensive — and increasingly higher priced — option of health insurance.

    I think more Americans should covert to the status of “undocumented,” treat the IRS the way it treats the Tea Party and right-leaning people (ie, with disdain and delay), and ride the gravy train for all it’s worth.

    If Obama is making larger numbers of citizens more cynical towards and distrusting of this nation’s government, then he will have done one good thing as the 44th president of the US.

    Mark (9b8d77)

  19. barack 0bama
    Class “A” Procrastinator
    and superb sh*theel

    Colonel Haiku (936c03)

  20. “This is the kind of diligence you get for your blogging dollar, folks!”

    Patterico – That’s why you rake in that cray-zee blogger loot and not me!!!!!!11ty!!!!!!

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  21. Am I missing something?

    California will have the private exchanges, but not the employer ones, so there is at least reason to keep it separate. The folks that have pre-existing conditions and no money will be really upset if their free platinum medical care access to these exchanges is delayed.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  22. @ Comment by Colonel Haiku (936c03) — 7/2/2013 @ 6:58 pm

    I understood every word of that.

    Saves wear on the SAP.

    papertiger (c2d6da)

  23. Kevin M,

    You’re right. Hence my update:

    [UPDATE: Actually, never mind, that analysis applies to the individual mandate, not the employer mandate. I blame Ace. Not that my mistake is his fault in any way. I just . . . blame Ace.]

    Patterico (9c670f)

  24. This administration, the laughingstock of the western world universe, keeps surpassing it’s own stupidity on a daily basis.

    How low we have fallen. I write those words with great sadness and the heaviest of hearts.

    Colonel Haiku (936c03)

  25. hillary’s gonna be pushing 70 and spending her twilight years cleaning up little food stamp boy’s mess?

    what an ungodly stupid ambition

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  26. I don’t think they see a need to clean anything up. Who holds them responsible? It’s the powah!!

    elissa (c183db)

  27. 15.I am in complete agreement with Kevin M. above that I expect the individual side of the mandate to be waived for 2014. It makes no sense to waive the business side but not the individual since they are tied together. Stupid not to announce the waivers together.
    Am I missing something?
    Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 7/2/2013 @ 6:54 pm

    — Let’s see. If you’re required to purchase insurance, but your employer is NOT required to offer you a plan . . .

    I.cy (f16d87)

  28. Their job is to get us to single payer pikachu, by destroying the private insurance market,

    narciso (3fec35)

  29. Kevin M. – If individuals have to certify in 2014 if they are covered either individually or at work by insurance which meets the minimum standards of the ACA, what sense does it make to postpone the employer mandate until 2015? That potentially leaves employers offering coverage which does not meet minimum ACA standards, unless all group health or self-insured plans must meet those standards in 2014.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  30. hillary’s gonna be pushing 70 and spending her twilight years cleaning up little food stamp boy’s mess?

    hf, this should enhance Ms. What-difference-does-it-make in the eyes of many people, probably including yours too.

    nationalenquirer.com, May 15,2013:

    HILLARY CLINTON has decided to TELL ALL in a blockbuster $25 million memoir – so there will be NO secrets left to uncover when she runs for president in 2016! That’s what publishing industry sources and insiders close to the 65-year-old former first lady have told The ENQUIRER, and they’ve shared explosive details of the shocking marital and political lies she’s likely to expose.

    Insiders say the biggest bombshell Hillary will drop is the flagrant lie she’s been telling for decades about the true nature of her sexuality.

    “Bill and Hillary are the consummate politi­cians, and they realize the LGBT community is a huge voting bloc,” said a family insider. “They want lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people behind Hillary in the 2016 campaign. So Hillary’s going to come clean for the votes. She’ll admit that she’s bisexual and has had lesbian relationships.”

    According to a source, Hillary will also confirm The ENQUIRER’s report in 2000 that a veterinarian who treated the family cat Socks at the White House stumbled upon her locked in a steamy embrace with a woman.

    ^ BTW, although dismissed by the MSM as a cheap supermarket tabloid — which it generally is — the Enquirer has been correct about various scoops, including the one about John Edwards and his love child, Jesse Jackson’s own love child, and Rush Limbaugh’s addiction to painkillers. In the case of Hillary, it’s probably confirming what most people have long assumed and suspected.

    Obamacare deserves the same respect and joy that Hillary’s bisexuality does.

    Mark (9b8d77)

  31. Mark why do you think anyone cares?

    elissa (c183db)

  32. Icy – My thought is more if the plan the employer offers does not qualify under the ACA. Did any rules also change for dates when employers had to offering minimum coverage standards? If not, postponing one side of the equation makes no sense to me.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  33. In a rational world it would seem prudent to ask why something that was supposed to be as wonderful as the ACA keeps getting pushed into the future…

    but in our world, a better question is how many years will Obama be out of office before the Dems stop using “It’s Bush’s fault” and “Republican obstructionism” as excuses for everything.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  34. Mark why do you think anyone cares?

    Elissa, I disagree. Not only will many people care, but they’ll see it as a sign of Hillary’s great honesty, her great courage, her great self-esteem and great values. They’ll say she’s to DC what Ellen DeGeneres is to Hollywood.

    That could have been said mockingly not too long ago, but in today’s era, it’s a matter of being purely descriptive.

    Mark (9b8d77)

  35. What I’m thinking is that a report recently came out showing that the rates on individual policies might be going up as much as 160% next year; and now, there might be a situation arising where — for possibly up to 12 months — there will be a lot of people that are facing the prospect of purchasing and attempting to pay for those more-expensive policies because their employers won’t be under any such mandate to provide a group-coverage plan (plans that tend to come with cheaper rates) to their employees.

    Will this situation result in the ‘coercion’ of more people onto the state exchanges?

    I.cy (f16d87)

  36. If individuals have to certify in 2014 if they are covered either individually or at work by insurance which meets the minimum standards of the ACA, what sense does it make to postpone the employer mandate until 2015?

    Well, it doesn’t, but that was based on their being insurance exchanges for small business, and there won’t be. In the absence of such exchanges there is no standard to judge employer plans by, so the mandate is pretty meaningless. Does a ten-cents-off-surgery coupon count?

    Such employees, however, could find insurance in the private market and may even get it highly subsidized. A person making $15K not only gets functionally free insurance in California, his “Bronze” plan is upgraded to the same co-pays as a rich person’s “Platinum.” So, for them, this isn’t that bad a deal.

    Another boxcar on the train to single-payer.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  37. but in our world, a better question is how many years will Obama be out of office before the Dems stop using “It’s Bush’s fault” and “Republican obstructionism” as excuses for everything.

    I don’t know that answer, MD. If memory serves, the Democrats used Herbert Hoover as a foil for about seventy years, even though there is a powerful argument that their hero FDR made things much worse. Blaming Bush should get them at least into 2080, when Barack Obama Sharpton (grandson of Barack Obama, great-grandson of Al Sharpton) is elected President.

    JVW (23867e)

  38. JVW,

    I expect to live to see a rap star elected President.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  39. @Kevin 38

    Who knew that Idiocracy was a documentary.

    CC (d877ae)

  40. If memory serves, the Democrats used Herbert Hoover as a foil for about seventy years,

    What’s fascinating about him is just about no one through the years — Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal — has ever pointed out that Hoover was pretty much a tax-and-spend politician. That he, in fact, leaned left. That he therefore was anything but a hard-nosed, tough-love fiscal realist. That he in reality was more “mommy” than “daddy.” That he initiated the very things that FDR took to the next level, yet he was the one who took all the blame while his successor took all the hugs and cheers.

    Human nature hasn’t changed too much over the past 70 years, but our standards, on the other hand, have drooped further and further. That’s why I fear America (and the Western World in general) going into sort of an abyss.

    Mark (9b8d77)

  41. Well they already said that Obama is always the smartest one in the room. It’s easy for a moron to be the smartest when the room only contains idiots.

    peedoffamerican (ee1de0)

  42. The dog ate my homework, and I ate the dog.

    BHO (94aabe)

  43. We learned that the DC autocrats were crooked to the core in the last five years; now we know they are crazy too.

    What is happening in America? These criminals jam through huge 2000-page bills that contain lord-know-what and then they whip back and say, oh, forget it.

    How long can we stand this kind of governance?

    Patricia (be0117)

  44. Kevin M. – You don’t have to have exchanges to determine whether employer plans meet minimum ACA standards. Qualification for subsidies is a different matter.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  45. I’ve heard your cri de coeur across the vastness of the internets Patricia and I’ve scurried here to the forbidding land of the pontifications to answer your cry thusly

    um. beats me really.

    I’m pretty sure we have at least 4 years of the clintonskank ahead of us

    as americans irrespective of age we’re all getting to that point in life where a rockin’ good weekend mostly involves following the recipe on the back of a package of kraft jet-puffed marshmallows

    god help us

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  46. An abstract of an actual NYT article from 1933. I believe it belongs on this comment thread.

    http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20716F839591A728DDDA90994DF405B838FF1D3

    HITLER SEEKS JOBS FOR ALL GERMANS; ‘Does Anything Else Matter?’ He Asks, Stressing Efforts to End Unemployment. CROMWELL IS HIS HERO Chancellor Admires Roosevelt for Marching to Objectives Over Congress and Lobbies. HITLER SEEKS JOBS FOR ALL GERMANS

    By ANNE O’HARE McCORMICK.Wireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES.By ANNE O’HARE McCORMICK. ();
    July 10, 1933,

    BERLIN, July 9 — There, is at least one official voice in Europe that expresses understanding of the methods and motives of President Roosevelt. This voice is that of Germany, as represented by Chancellor Adolf Hitler.

    Complete with iconic Time magazine cover.

    http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20081124,00.html

    Steve57 (192f26)

  47. Mr. Feets – I just need young pups like you to keep working so you can support old farts like me so jest you be forgettin about those good times right bout now, hear?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  48. Via Insty: TWEET OF THE DAY: Obamacare was so popular it had to be passed in the dead of night and delayed until after two elections.

    elissa (c183db)

  49. I’m a need more marshmallows Mr. daley

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  50. Mr feets–No. You saw what carbs did to Z!!!!

    elissa (c183db)

  51. Comment by Steve57 (192f26) — 7/2/2013 @ 10:06 pm

    I recently read Amity Shlaes’ masterpiece The Forgotten Man, about how FDR and his brain-trust managed the Great Depression. Stop me if any of this sounds familiar: a group of academics woefully short of business experience who nevertheless use the crisis as a way of forcing progressive intellectual theory to order society in a way that they think is just and righteous; pervasive and often contradictory regulation of business; a complete willingness to reverse course with regards to monetary policy even if it causes problems with our trading partners and allies; and use of the federal bureaucracy to target and punish individuals and groups whom the administration perceives to be in opposition.

    FDR balkanized the country during the Depression by dividing the country into disparate interest groups and crafting an agenda by which 60% of the country was encouraged to blame the other 40% for all of its woes. This has been the Democrats’ playbook ever since.

    Obama is going to have to hope for a Third World War — it’s about the only thing that could possibly save us from his awful economic stewardship.

    JVW (23867e)

  52. that’s a timely and extremely relevant caution elissa

    carbs really are the cruelest injustice of all

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  53. Mary Katharine Ham wonders if the president even knew about this implementation delay or if those in charge just took advantage of his being out of the country to make the announcement. She figgers they’ll spring it on him when he gets off of A.F.One unless he’s seen a English language newspaper recently.The media traveling with him certainly will not want to trouble him by asking questions about Obamacare while the family is on vacation.

    elissa (c183db)

  54. BERLIN, July 9 — There, is at least one official voice in Europe that expresses understanding of the methods and motives of President Roosevelt. This voice is that of Germany, as represented by Chancellor Adolf Hitler.

    I recently read Amity Shlaes’ masterpiece The Forgotten Man, about how FDR and his brain-trust managed the Great Depression.

    Ironies of ironies, then and now.

    I’m still gap-mouthed to learn recently that FDR was a surprisingly bigoted person behind closed doors. And that while Hitler eventually acknowledged the success of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, both FDR and his successor, Harry Truman (who was super racist/bigoted behind closed doors, but loved the idea of public healthcare, and happily bashed conservatives on the campaign trail), didn’t do squat for one of America’s most famous athletes—who happened to be black. It took a Republican, Dwight Eisenhower, over 20 years later to finally give a presidential kudos to Owens.

    Those who forget their past are doomed to repeat it, and America in the 21st century unfortunately has a severe case of Alzheimer’s.

    Mark (9b8d77)

  55. I’m a need more marshmallows Mr. daley
    Comment by happyfeet (8ce051) — 7/2/2013 @ 10:16 pm

    — I’m-a wants some pancakes!

    Icy (940358)

  56. pancakes are for closers Mr. Icy

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  57. If I have to work another 20 years to help support Mr. daley, I want me some flapjacks!

    Icy (940358)

  58. fair enough

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  59. I can do pancakes, but no those wussy vegan kind what have umbrellas on them.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  60. You don’t have to have exchanges to determine whether employer plans meet minimum ACA standards.

    Well, like Congress, I haven’t read the ACA text, but I have read analysis (WSJ?) that says while there are minimum standards for individuals, oddly they forgot the section about minimum standards for business. And that some business owners were contemplating VERY minimal plans.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  61. BTW, has anyone noticed that every senior economic advisor Obama had working for him in 2009, either formally or informally, has now left? (Bernanke doesn’t count, and he’s leaving anyway).

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  62. Kevin M., I think they were all gone by the end of 2010 weren’t they?

    SPQR (768505)

  63. can i just finish my waffle?

    redc1c4 (403dff)

  64. Resident Evil, in a fit of madness, is in the process of starting a business here in Failifornia.

    we’re only hiring people we know, with the skills we need, and the first decision was that, since the place will be open six days a week, no one is getting more than 3 eight hour days a week.

    gotta watch you expenses, especially during start up. what’s really sad (but beneficial) is that we know lots of smart people with the skills we need that are desperate for even 24 hours a week.

    Recover Summer 2013!

    redc1c4 (403dff)

  65. Kevin M. – Large employers are required to offer plans with minimum essential coverage to employees and are subject to affordability and minimum value tests to avoid penalties under the ACA, which is why I raised the question. They were not ignored or forgotten. That’s why you have all Catholic institutions suing over the contraception mandate which formed part of the minimum coverage requirements.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  66. redcic4 – Bendover Summer 2013!

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  67. Comment by JVW (23867e) — 7/2/2013 @ 8:23 pm

    very good point. I was merely being a little snarky, you added something of value to the discussion, though a sad reality.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  68. So O actually DOES have discretion to monkey with the implementation date, or rather fudge it by using his discretion to demand REPORTING. Tricksy.

    It doesn’t seem very workable as the tax on individuals was supposed to be tailed with implementation of an employer mandate.

    Many states aren’t participating in the exchanges, and the Feds can’t get it together in picking up the slack. The only thing that’s available is sky-high cost, poor coverage plans, even for people who qualify for some subsidy (most will not) – and many employers have been dropping coverage as quickly and extensively as they possibly can and finding other ways to avoid ever having to provide it, that mostly mean reduced employment, reduced salaries and spending power.

    People will still have to go naked on coverage, only now they will have to pay money to get nothing. Money that could go to pay for routine care essentially snatched out of their pockets.

    Sarahw (b0e533)

  69. Iowahawk:

    You know who really feels stupid right now? All those people who bribed the WH for Obamacare waivers. Suckers!

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  70. Large employers are required to offer plans with minimum essential coverage to employees and are subject to affordability and minimum value tests to avoid penalties under the ACA

    Well, people are interpreting the law differently. See the WSJ “Employers Eye Bare-Bones Health Plans Under New Law”. [You may have to Google the title to get past the paywall.]

    Employers are increasingly recognizing they may be able to avoid certain penalties under the federal health law by offering very limited plans that can lack key benefits such as hospital coverage.

    Benefits advisers and insurance brokers—bucking a commonly held expectation that the law would broadly enrich benefits—are pitching these low-benefit plans around the country. They cover minimal requirements such as preventive services, but often little more. Some of the plans wouldn’t cover surgery, X-rays or prenatal care at all. Others will be paired with limited packages to cover additional services, for instance, $100 a day for a hospital visit.

    Federal officials say this type of plan, in concept, would appear to qualify as acceptable minimum coverage under the law, and let most employers avoid an across-the-workforce $2,000-per-worker penalty for firms that offer nothing. Employers could still face other penalties they anticipate would be far less costly.

    It is unclear how many employers will adopt the strategy, but a handful of companies have signed on and an industry is sprouting around the tactic. More than a dozen brokers and benefit-administrators in 10 states said they were discussing the strategy with their clients.

    There is also a new wrinkle: employees covered by a employer plan which meets the minimum coverage requirements, whatever they are, is ineligible for plans on the private exchanges. So if these bare-bones plans are OK, a minimum wage worker who might qualify for a fairly good, subsidized, plan through the exchange might find he has to pay 9.5% of his wages for a junk plan.

    Add to that yesterdays waiver (which means that there is no way to determine IF a worker has such minimum coverage), and the whole system teeters pretty badly.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  71. Gabriel Malor is saying there IS NO discretion given Obama to change the date the ACA employer reporting must begin.

    “… ACA sec. 1513 does a couple things. But for our purposes, the one we care about is that it amends the tax code (which is really a statute) to include the provisions I’ve described above. Remember: these tax code changes create a monthly reporting requirement. And, ACA sec. 1513(d) provides explicitly when that monthly reporting requirement shall apply. “The amendments made by this section shall apply to months beginning after December 31, 2013.” Contrary to several media reports, there is no discretion in the law about that December 31, 2013 date. The monthly reporting requirements apply “to months beginning after December 31, 2013,” which includes all months in the year 2014.”

    (bold added.)

    Sarahw (b0e533)

  72. I was also wondering when I heard this on CBS This Morning how it could be that the executive could just postpone the effective date of a law. The story did not explain that.

    Not even the New York Times article explained that, maybe because the reporters didn’t know (when the New York Times doesn’t know something often it just omits an issue or postpones the whole story even)

    I assumed there was some kind of a legal basis for this or legal reasoning, but none of the media outlets seemed to notice this was missing.

    Now it turns out that in giving the effective date (for the employer mandate) in all previous stories the reporters were relying on either press releases or personal contact, but nobody looked at the law.

    Otherwise maybe somebody would have been lobbying the Administration to postpone the effective date oof this part of the law. Come to think of it, I guess somebody did.

    (testing the Internet connection)

    Sammy Finkelman (ad84eb)

  73. By the way, there’s an inaccuracy in these stories that I know from my reading about this law. Theye are all saying this was to prevent businesses from cutting back on hiring. That will still happen, starting in January because it is the payroll of the previous year that determines where a business fits in the spectrum of this law.

    What was happening was that a lot of businesses were being caught by suroprise. It was getting too late to cut back on employees, or they might have to cut down drastically. (They were also seeking to amend the law)

    Now businesses don’t have to worry about their payroll until after December 31, 2013 (or whenever the last payroll period where wages will be paid in the calendar year 2013 closes)

    They will still cut back on employees in 2014, but less drastically, and this will take off the pressure on Congress to amend the Obamacare law this year.

    Sammy Finkelman (ad84eb)

  74. The individual mandate effective date is still January 1, 2014, but the penalty/tax was deliberately made very low for 2014 – I think a maximum of $695.

    The New York Times quotes a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University with the name of Sara Rosenbaum as saying

    I am utterly astounded. It boggles the mind. This step could significantly reduce the number of uninsured people who will gain coverage in 2014

    The White House says people will still be eligible for subsidies. The New York Times article says officials running the exchanges will now have trouble knowing who is eligible for he subsidies or not.

    Sammy Finkelman (ad84eb)

  75. Oh, happyfeet, I actually did pray last night. What else is there at this point?

    Patricia (be0117)

  76. Of course Obama can defer the law, under Article VIII of the Constitution: “The President can do what he wants.” Many copies have omitted this because it was on the recently found postscript on page 5.

    Kevin M (bf8ad7)

  77. 30. The Natonal Enquirer has or had the same lawyer as BIll and Hillary Clinton. This is a story Hillary Clinton wanted out. But I doubt her book will say that.

    Sammy Finkelman (ad84eb)

  78. Kevin M. @71 – We have have no disagreement. It all rests on the definition of acceptable minimum coverage and then further the certification individuals will have to make on their tax returns.

    I found the following pdf from Ernst & Young from earlier this year which purports to summarize employer requirements:

    http://www.abc.org/Portals/1/Documents/Newsline/2013/Employer_ACA_Reference_Deck-02%2027%202013.pdf

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  79. A little good news to lighten the mood:

    The US trade deficit increased by more than expected to $45 billion in May. The US Commerce Department says that is the highest level in six months. When adjusted for inflation, the shortfall on the trade balance increased to $52.3 billion from $47.4 billion in April.

    The price of US light crude oil has risen above $100 a barrel for the first time since September 2012 on concerns over political turmoil in Egypt.

    While the rise in rates had appeared to cause some potential buyers to get into the market earlier in June, MBA’s seasonally adjusted index of loan requests for home purchases decreased 3.1 percent last week. Refinancing activity was hit much harder and the index tumbled 15.6 percent last week. The refinance share of total mortgage activity slumped to 64 percent of applications from 67 percent the week before. It was the lowest level since May 2011. The overall index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, slid 11.7 percent.

    The Institute for Supply Management’s services index fell to 52.2 in June, the lowest level since February 2010, from 53.7 in May.

    All I can say is, Thank GOD that gay marriagings and wiping the coal industry off the map and balancing a soccer ball that doubles as a power source for your night light on your head will fix all of this!

    Oh yeah, and this mandating that individuals purchase health insurance while simultaneously NOT mandating that employers provide it. THIS will make things better, too.

    Icy gulrud (456cf4)

  80. Judge Roberts could have prevented this.
    Just another over officious jerk.

    mg (31009b)

  81. I did not realize the Obama Administration released the news of the delayed employer mandate in such a strange way. What a disaster this Administration is and, unfortunately, America and Americans are the ones who will pay the price.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  82. Happy Birthday, America.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  83. When did this concept of simply waiving the requirements of a law for a select few become legal?

    JD (e70b27)


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