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Obamacare flounders

It turns out that the government takeover of one-sixth of the U.S. economy is a complex, if not impossible, task.

Who knew?

Well, most everyone who ignored the pithy and pious proclamations about the Affordable Health Care Act when it passed in 2010, and instead took a hard look at just what the implications of the government-mandated overhaul of the country’s health care system might be, saw this coming.

Now, even those responsible for implementing Obamacare are floundering.

Last week the Treasury Department, in an announcement no doubt timed with the holiday to try to minimize the impact, said it was postponing the employer mandate for one year.  Under the law, beginning Jan. 1, 2014, every business with 50 or more full-time employees (defined as at least 30 hours a week) have to provide government-approved health insurance or face a fine of $2,000 per employee.

The businesses would be ready on time, though they wouldn’t be happy about it. In fact, the private sector has been preparing by hiring more part-time employees to avoid the expensive insurance mandates under Obamacare.

The real problem is the federal government would not be prepared by next year to monitor the five to six million businesses that fall under the requirement.

But that creates another problem.  Workers who don’t get insurance in the workplace qualify for subsides from the government to buy coverage.  The size of the subsidy depends on the individual’s income.

However, Health and Human Resources says it will allow individuals to self-report their income with little, if any, cross referencing.  As the Wall Street Journal opined, “The result, starting in October, may be millions of people getting subsidies who don’t legally qualify.”

Meanwhile, most states are preparing to have their Medicaid rolls grow dramatically because of the health care law.   The Charleston Daily Mail reports this week that the number of West Virginian’s enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will rise from 183,000 currently to 277,000 by 2016, according to the State Insurance Commission.

But are there enough providers in the state to handle a 50 percent increase in the number of patients on Medicaid and CHIP?   West Virginia State Medical Association Executive Director Evan Jenkins told the Daily Mail that many doctors “will dedicate a certain number of patient slots for Medicaid. When those are filled, they don’t take any new patients.”

Those patients who can’t find a doctor will end up right back in the emergency room, utilizing the most expensive kind of care.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said Congress needed to pass the health care law “so you could see what’s in it.”  Unfortunately, she was right, and it’s not pretty.

The implementation of the health care law is no longer just a punching bag for the right.  The rest of America is beginning to see this as a quixotic mission, hopelessly complex with loads of unintended consequences.

The Obama Administration’s decision last week to ignore its own law by postponing the employer mandate is a bellwether of what’s ahead.

 

 

 

 





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