From the we are in good hands department – Washington Examiner: “Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a House panel Wednesday that nobody knows how many Obamacare enrollees have actually paid their health insurance bills. . . . ‘How can it be that HHS, in charge of this program, cites a number, 4.2 million people signed up, but has no idea how many people have paid?’ Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., asked.”
Wall St. Journal: “ObamaCare’s implementers continue to roam the battlefield and shoot their own wounded, and the latest casualty is the core of the Affordable Care Act—the individual mandate. To wit, last week the Administration quietly excused millions of people from the requirement to purchase health insurance or else pay a tax penalty. This latest political reconstruction has received zero media notice, and the Health and Human Services Department didn’t think the details were worth discussing in a conference call, press materials or fact sheet. Instead, the mandate suspension was buried in an unrelated rule that was meant to preserve some health plans that don’t comply with ObamaCare benefit and redistribution mandates. Our sources only noticed the change this week. That seven-page technical bulletin includes a paragraph and footnote that casually mention that a rule in a separate December 2013 bulletin would be extended for two more years, until 2016. Lo and behold, it turns out this second rule, which was supposed to last for only a year, allows Americans whose coverage was cancelled to opt out of the mandate altogether.”
The IRS is tasked under Obamacare to administer the many tax provisions contained in the law. It created a website to educate people about the tax provisions at www.irs.gov/uac/Affordable-Care-Act-Tax-Provisions-Home. Here are some of the major topics on the site:
Investors Business Daily: “Confirming again that its reform is a disaster, the White House has stopped yet another provision of the law before it can take effect. This time it’s caps placed on patients’ out-of-pocket expenses. . . . So, like a monarch who exercises absolute power, the administration, which has no constitutional authority to write or change laws, delayed the deadline. Because it felt like it.”
Associated Press: “One casualty of the new health care law may be paid coverage for families of people who work for small businesses. Insurance companies have already warned small business customers that premiums could rise 20 percent or more in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act.”