Posted on 07/20/2014 7:18:51 PM PDT by Lorianne
As WSJ reports, last week's geopolitical chaos and distraction was ideal for a news dump, and the White House didn't disappoint: On no legal basis, all 4.5 million residents of the five U.S. territories were quietly released from ObamaCare. It seems the costs of healthcare soared in these five territories due to uneconomic mandates - which woul dhave been a disaster PR-wise for the administration and so, under cover of catastrophe, WSJ reports all of a sudden last week HHS discovered new powers after "a careful review of this situation and the relevant statutory language," that enabled them to 'selectively exempt' American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, and Virgin Islands from Obamacare. And all while vacationing...
As WSJ reports,
The original House and Senate bills that became the Affordable Care Act included funding for insurance exchanges in these territories, as President Obama promised when as a Senator he in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and other 2008 Democratic primaries. But the $14.5 billion in subsidies for the territories were dumped in 2010 as ballast when Democrats needed to claim the law reduced the deficit.
As a consolation, Democrats opened several public-health programs to the territories and bestowed most of ObamaCare's insurance regulations, which liberals euphemize as "consumer protections," such as requiring insurers to accept all comers and charge the same premiums regardless of patient health.
However, costs soared as no insurer would touch them...
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Picking winners and losers.
Two days ago in the WaPo:
The administration just took Obamacare away from the territories
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3182263/posts
Ask Pelosi about it. She probably doesn’t want to give her fish cannery employees insurance.
Sure are a bunch of scumbags in charge these days..
This might be good news for Puerto Rico. If they can offer healthcare cheaper, they can become a medical tourist destination.
I thought this was under the House and Senate to make changes?
Never let a crisis go to waste, yessirree.
You know you want to.
In a Republic, only the legislators can change legislation. In a dictatorship, the dictator can unilaterally change legislation. The legislators in the latter case are only members of a fancy debating club.
I guess future GOP President could simply exempt red states from paying any federal taxes
But...I thought that those were states...
</sarc>
Just “quietly exempt” the rest of us too.
SQUIRREL!
Nancy Pelosi and tuna fish. Eeeew.
Maybe Obama should make California Chrome a US Senator...
Still making it up as they go along.
I think Nancy Pelosi owns a company overseas.
Very clever comment that! For those who aren't following, I'll provide a hint. Google "Incitatus".
Oh well, those folks probably don’t need health insurance anyway.
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