White House broadens Obamacare exemptions (Obamacare death by millions of exemptions)

politico ^ | 12/20/2013 | By JENNIFER HABERKORN and CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN

[tobyhill]

Millions of Americans who had their health plans cancelled will be exempt from the Obamacare individual mandate, the administration said Thursday – a surprise move that comes just before Monday’s deadline to sign up for coverage starting Jan. 1.

The administration also said people who had their plans cancelled could get a scaled back catastrophic plan, which has more limited benefits than those included in other Obamacare health plans.

The move prompted sharp criticism from Republicans and concern from the insurance industry that another last-minute change would disrupt coverage and lead to tumult in the new marketplaces.

“This latest rule change could cause significant instability in the marketplace and lead to further confusion and disruption for consumers,” said Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group.

Republicans who have fought the individual mandate as one of the most hated aspects of the sweeping health law said the change was one more sign of a failed policy.

[Principled]

We do need a list on FR of all the exemptions and changes.

Will also be nice to install an HHS secretary that would use the powers of the secretary to gut 0care. LOL

But Sebelius will be there until she’s not... or 0bama is out of office. But she won’t be fired.

[Sacajaweau]

Kinda brings us back to go....

[Sacajaweau]

The real problem is them telling you what has to be included in your policy...including funding abortions...

[EBH]

The administration also said people who had their plans cancelled could get a scaled back catastrophic plan, which has more limited benefits than those included in other Obamacare health plans.

Which is the kind of plan that I had cancelled...(sigh)

I refuse, I just refuse to go through that damn website or some navigator to be able to get health care or government insurance!

[Sooth2222]

Millions of Americans who had their health plans cancelled will be exempt from the Obamacare individual mandate, the administration said Thursday – a surprise move that comes just before Monday’s deadline to sign up for coverage starting Jan. 1.

The administration also said people who had their plans cancelled could get a scaled back catastrophic plan, which has more limited benefits than those included in other Obamacare health plans.

So the millions of Americans who had their plans cancelled will be exempt from paying their medical bills?

People can buy catastrophic insurance coverage that Obamacare outlawed? From whom? What insurance company would sell it now?

The Obama administration is flailing. This is way beyond stupid.

[Liz]

Tick, tock, tick, tock........

The Obama admin said scaled-back catastrophic plans
w/ more limited benefits than in other O/care plans
would be availabe to those w/ cancelled plans.

Mmmmmmm......good ol' Chicago Valerie musta burned the
midnight oil to come up with that one....as the O/Care
doomsday clock keeps ticking away.

[grania]

So there are Republican Senators objecting to this change? If they were on our side, the proper response would that this is a good first step. The next two steps would be to make the "catastrophic only" option available to everyone and to drop the mandate.

Let the insurance companies and their buddies, the feds, decide what to do with all of the leeches who want something for nothing with their subsidized Obamacare and/or their extreme number of ailments and/or their wanting a treatment or a drug for everything.

[knarf]

If it's not so important for all of these entities to be exempted, then the obvious conclusion is it is not about health care but about power and the power to enslave and control

zero realizes he's probably "accomplished" all he can, so he'll dig in his heels snf take the beating.

[Sooth2222]

Kinda brings us back to go....

I think there is a Russian saying that you can make fish soup out of an aquarium but can't make an aquarium out of fish soup. There is no "Go" any more. It's gone.

Obama and the Democrats smashed the US health care system, now they're finding they can't possibly fix it, even if they repealed Obamacare.

[BCW]

WOW - this is just working out great!

Did the liberals like Pelosi and Barry actually think this was going to work - that everyone was going to fall in line and drink the Kool-Aid?

Why is the Democratic Party still allowed in the US - they should be kicked out with the illegal aliens and welfare junkies back to some other nation and let them make their own little fairy tale utopia!

[Truth29]

So now, the serfs can buy insurance that doesn’t meet Obamacare standards or not buy insurance at all. So this is back at the beginning, except for the wholesale destruction of the insurance and health care industries and the disruption of millions of lives - which was the purpose to begin with.

[stormhill]

These Obama victims might not be able to get back their now non-existing old policies or, in some cases, any coverage at all but at least maybe they won't have the IRS coming after them for the fines/taxes/penalties/fees (or whatever they're calling it this week) for not having insurance.

Queer how Americans have become so uncharacteristically submissive, so passively compliant to a government that rules by diktat and places itself above a law they created for the serfs. Obama doesn't even pretend to consult Congress anymore before altering the deal.

[newnhdad]

Before the end of the year, they will offer people a one year waiver.

[fortheDeclaration]

They are doing everything they can to avoid them being wiped out in 2014, but the damage has been done.

[Lazamataz]

I will not enroll on that website under penalty of prosecution.

[livius]

Good analysis. It was definitely an attempt to take over and control the life of every citizen at its most basic individual level. I think this is becoming obvious even to people who don’t usually think about these things, and they’re getting a little annoyed because Obama is really messing with them now.

This law has provided nothing good, except perhaps to people already on welfare, and has created chaos, hardship and instability in people’s everyday lives. That said, this latest “rule change” is going to create such chaos at the level of the insurance companies that the whole industry could grind to a halt, taking down the health care providers as well.

Somebody has got to do something immediately, although no matter what they do, it’s going to create hardship and chaos. But if the law is revoked, at least the chaos will have a foreseeable end as the insurance companies revert, at least temporarily, to the plans they had a year earlier and then work on reforms such as interstate purchasing, etc.

If it’s not revoked, it could well destroy the country.

[rawhide]

Seems we are back to where it was before the law was passed?

[C. Edmund Wright]

Which is the kind of plan that I had cancelled...(sigh)

Yep….here the free market had developed a plan - a very wise plan…..catastrophic coverage with low cost premiums and high high deductibles….and everyone was happy. Then the gummint comes along and rules them illegal….the gummints plan implodes….and then the gummint says hey, we have a great idea, how about catastrophic low cost plans????

[autumnraine]

This man is beyond stupi and apparently surrounds himself with stupid people. Insurance isn’t like slapping a price tag in juice. Policies have to be worked out and approved by the state at least a year ahead of time.

Good God help us all.