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The Lawlessness of the ‘Fix’ by Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review ^ | Nov 16, 2013 | Andrew C McCarthy

Posted on 11/16/2013 8:01:43 AM PST by Innovative

Insurance companies would be insane to offer plans that failed to comply with the ACA.

No, the purpose is to highlight how insouciantly lawless and transparently political the president’s latest Obamacare “fix” is. I refer, of course, to Obama’s magnanimous proclamation that he now deigns to permit insurers to issue policies made illegal by the Obamacare statute — at least until the Democrats can get through the 2014 elections. This was frivolous to the point of malfeasance.

Let’s start with the basics. The president has no power to rewrite statutes — he is bereft of dictatorial power to legitimize what Congress has made a violation of law.

Obama is a charlatan, but not a stupid one. He knows what he did on Thursday was a legal charade. His “waivers” are no more about law than Obamacare is about delivering quality health care. Thursday was a performance contrived to set the insurance companies up. With Americans boiling over coverage cancellations, Obama publicly called on the insurers to offer policies that he well knows his own law makes illegal and that his “waiver” is powerless to legitimize. He desperately hopes Americans will be gulled into blaming the insurance companies for the catastrophe he has wrought.

He would have gotten away with it a year ago. He won’t get away with it now.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: andrewcmccarthy; andymccarthy; andymccrthy; mccarthy; obama; obamacare; obamacareillegal
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Obama wants to fool people once again -- since he got away with it so many times before. And the purpose is, as Andy McCarthy points out, is to fool them long enough to get through the 2014 elections.

let's hope people won't fall for it again. But since "hope is not a strategy", the Republican need to out front not trying to "fix" Obamacare, butdemand and promise its repeal if they get the majority in Congress.

1 posted on 11/16/2013 8:01:43 AM PST by Innovative
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To: Innovative

Link to one page print version of the article:

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/364117/print


2 posted on 11/16/2013 8:02:21 AM PST by Innovative ("Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." -- Vince Lombardi)
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To: Innovative

The one problem with this theory is it assumes the insurance companies were innocent bystanders as this fiasco became law. They were willing coconspirators from day one. In the current law there is a transition period during which insurance companies will be paid if they do not make the profits they expected. It is a bribe to ensure they go along with whatever the POS wants. What really galls me is some of these health insurors who support O care are mutual not for profit firms like Kaiser and BC. They are in it for increased business and higher salaries for the senior managers.


3 posted on 11/16/2013 8:10:29 AM PST by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
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To: Innovative

Do the Dems know what precedent is being set by Obama’s lawlessness?

If you ever want some entertainment, ask some Dems what they would think if President Palin four years from now chose which laws to enforce and which to waive the way that Obama does with immigration, ObamaCare, and the rest of his pet projects in creative government.

I’d rather return to the rule of law - now - but if this is how the far left fringe is bankrupting our country, I’m willing to go with four years of payback.


4 posted on 11/16/2013 8:11:29 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: Mouton

Somehow, I get the feeling that Kaiser is mainly a true believer, maybe like Boxer to Obama’s Napoleon. But you make a strong case. Whatever, they deserve to go down hard, with only Ezekiel Emanuel’s crushed reputation keeping them from hitting the bottom of the pit.


5 posted on 11/16/2013 8:14:59 AM PST by gusopol3
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To: All
Obama's "keep it act" was contrived......letting insurers offer policies he knows are now illegal by his own actions. He desperately hopes irate Americans will be gulled into blaming the insurance companies for the catastrophe---

..... not the stupid democrat candidates who voted for Obomacare---and parroted his lies WRT keeping the plan they liked.

6 posted on 11/16/2013 8:17:00 AM PST by Liz
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To: All
WHAT ELSE DID OBAMA LIE ABOUT? Rarely mentioned is that healthcare.gov is also a voter registration site.

All that personal info they expected to be entered should be investigated---as to what the Obaba-Chi/criminals intended to do with it.

The criminal Chi/mobs can turn anything into votes.....and cash.

The Chicago/Obomatics are kinda like criminal Rumplestiltskins---weaving govt straw into offshore gold.

7 posted on 11/16/2013 8:18:41 AM PST by Liz
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To: Innovative

8 posted on 11/16/2013 8:19:28 AM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Innovative

“let’s hope people won’t fall for it “

Anyone who manages to keep the plan they like after it was cancelled (I saw a post that some insurers in FL are continuing policies) will surely know the same thing will happen again a year later.

The article does a good job of explaining that the insurers will not have legal immunity. Can anyone put that in a sound bite for easily explaining to people? who might think that just because O said so, their policies would / should come back?

Something like: As long as ACA is the “law of the land”, it is still illegal for insurance companies to violate ACA. PERIOD!


9 posted on 11/16/2013 8:25:10 AM PST by AMDG&BVMH
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To: Innovative; Diogenesis; 2ndDivisionVet; Liz
The Left’s goal was to bleed the telecoms dry with lawsuits over Bush’s warrantless surveillance program.

Apparently the left had plenty of money for these suits, sufficient to "bleed the telecoms dry." Whence did that money originate? I don't have the list of malfeasants to chase this one down, as the areas of research I do are different, but this little thread might be most interesting.

10 posted on 11/16/2013 8:26:52 AM PST by Carry_Okie ("Single payer" is Medicaid for all; they'll pull the sheet over your head when you're done.)
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To: Travis McGee
This is what I don't understand about the responses given by the administration. They are typically extralegal responses to LAWS (i.e. lack of enforcement of immigration, health care waivers, EPA standards, etc.). The response of the opposition is mute. When John Roberts defined this whole mess as a tax, the correct response is “it wasn't enacted in the congress, and therefore can't be a tax.” The Supreme Court would have to agree, and upon legal analysis would have to nullify O-care.
Why hasn't this happened?
11 posted on 11/16/2013 8:28:23 AM PST by Eagletest (We know Holders out, right?)
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To: Innovative
"Fall for it"?

Like a magician's show sometimes require stage assistants other "props" in order to fool the folks who have paid the price for the show, this years-long and ongoing "Act" required a literal cast of so-called "progressive" stage hands.

Now that the "magician's" ineptness, brought on by an arrogance and narcissism, has revealed the tricks and spoiled the seeming magic, some of them, knowing their jobs are at risk, are denying their roles, and insisting that they did not know they were participating in fraudulent trickery.

What better proof do American citizens need than to have a representative who proudly voted for ACA now come home for the Holidays to beg for their trust that the "magic" trick is not a trick at all, just a technology glitch which is being remedied as they celebrate?

Every "progressive" Democrat who participated in this charade of a Trojan Horse for socialized medicine should pay the price in 2014.

12 posted on 11/16/2013 8:30:11 AM PST by loveliberty2
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To: Eagletest

Because as Mark Levin correctly notes, we are now living in “post-constitutional America.”

The USSR also had a great Constitution.....on paper.

That is the new reality in the new USSA.

As far as Roberts, my opinion is that he was coerced by blackmail at the 11th hour, “the Chicago way.”

Probably having to do with his male “health club” escapades before he married a beard.

We now live in a thugocracy.


13 posted on 11/16/2013 8:31:24 AM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Liz

Like Orwell’s “1984,” and Ann “Rand’s Atlas shrugged,” the rule of law has become a Byzantine mess of thousands of laws and edicts by government agencies. The most law abiding citizen is not able to stay within the law due to the number and interpretations of the law by the government rulers.

Using selective enforcement of the law makes any and all subject to prosecution at will. Thus our rulers can punish and reward as they see fit.

Thus as Mark Levin says, “SOFT TYRANNY.” What Mark Levin did not say is that “SOFT TYRANNY” always becomes hard tyranny if the people resist.


14 posted on 11/16/2013 8:32:49 AM PST by cpdiii (Deckhand, Roughneck, Mud Man, Geologist, Pilot, Pharmacist. THE CONSTITUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR!)
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To: Innovative

Didn’t the President, swear on a (very special) Bible, on national TV; to protect and uphold the Constitution and the laws of this great nation?

When one flagrantly violates a sworn oath - usually there are consequences.

But, then I guess I’m obviously a racist.


15 posted on 11/16/2013 8:33:32 AM PST by Hodar (A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.- Burroughs)
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To: Innovative

In case anyone who was wondering how Obama could wave his magic dictator’s wand and “allow” insurance companies to offer continuation of non-compliant (illegal) policies: he can’t. Not really. He can’t make the policies legal, but what he can do is tell the insurance companies he won’t prosecute them for offering illegal policies. So Obama is telling the insurance companies: “Don’t worry, it’s OK to issue illegal policies because I promise my administration won’t prosecute you.” In other words, Obama can’t make the policies legal, so he’s encouraging the insurance companies to break the law.

So encouraging the insurance companies to break the law is “Obama’s Big Fix”! So how’s that for great health insurance reform? Oh, yeah, and what a wonderful way to govern the country: encourage law-breaking. Given the example this President sets, why should anyone else feel compelled to follow the law about anything?

On the other hand, we all know that “Obama’s Big Fix” is impossible. State insurance commissioners are saying “NO”, and the insurance companies won’t issue illegal polices anyway due to massive liability issues. Oh, and what happens in case anyone does get to buy such an illegal policy? They’d still have to pay the “fine” because they won’t have Obamacare-compliant polices and the President didn’t give those people any “prosecutorial discretion”.

Besides, Obama himself said the reason for “Obama’s Big Fix” is ““What we want to do is to be able to say to these folks, you know what, the Affordable Care Act is not going to be the reason why insurers have to cancel your plan.”

That’s just plain despicable. Absolutely despicable. Coming up with a health care plan that requires encouraging companies to break the law, yet knowing the call to illegality is actually impossible anyway, and then on top of doing that, doing it solely to shift blame from himself and the Democrats that passed this monstrosity.

Mortally ill people who’ve lost their insurance and their doctors will soon be dying because of Obamacare. Ted Cruz needs to gather a couple of dozen of these poor souls from around the nation, and hold a press conference with them surrounding him, and declare: “Mr. President, let’s tear down this Obamacare now! It’s time to repeal this monstrosity. Too many innocent people are dying already. Let’s stop the horror before more are killed by it.”


16 posted on 11/16/2013 8:34:27 AM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: Travis McGee

17 posted on 11/16/2013 8:35:15 AM PST by spokeshave (Obamacare is planned, just like the planned famine by the Russians to eliminate the Ukrainians.)
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To: Innovative

If I were the insurance companies, I would say the following:

“We will re-issue the policies we canceled due to Obamacare when the law is changed to allow this. We will not issue a policy that is against the law and would subject us to possible criminal prosecution. The prices of the new renewed policies will be dependent on a new analysis of the risk pool that signs up.”


18 posted on 11/16/2013 8:37:52 AM PST by cpdiii (Deckhand, Roughneck, Mud Man, Geologist, Pilot, Pharmacist. THE CONSTITUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR!)
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To: Mouton
I disagree.

Obamacare gave the insurance companies 2 choices: Get out of the business or play by Obama’s rules. That is not a co-conspiracy, that is blackmail.

The insurance companies likely knew Obamacare would be a disaster. They've been in the business a long time & know what works & what doesn't. That they managed to put some assurances into the bill is to their credit.

Any company, insurance or otherwise, has 2 priorities: maximize profits & operate within the law. Any CEO that advocated losing money to appease irrational liberals will quickly be replaced. Any CEO who failed to get the best deal he could re. Obamacare would be derelict in his commitment to his company.

Most insurance companies are PUBLICLY owned. If you have mutual funds, you are likely an investor in these companies. A quick look at the stock market will show the insurance stocks mostly follow the DOW. None are reaping out-sized profits.

You have bought the latest Obama lie - the insurance companies are evil. Nonsense.

19 posted on 11/16/2013 8:41:25 AM PST by Mister Da (The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)
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To: catnipman
I am not a lawyer, but I'll make two statements:

1) ex-post facto -- If a politician makes a law which says that the thing you did two years ago is now illegal, they cannot bring you up on on charges; that ship has sailed and your past actions cannot be punished under a new law.

2) Simple prosecution -- If you violate a law, one politician may decide to look the other way, but another politician may decide not to. Maybe this year, maybe next year.

ACA is the law of the land. Insurance Companies should be well aware of the fact that while Obama may promise not to prosecute them, another president may decide to do so. "Hey, the law of the land in 2014 said "this", and you violated that. You will now be fined $20B. Welcome to 2017, and have a nice day."

20 posted on 11/16/2013 8:45:54 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (21st century. I'm not a fan.)
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