Brain Brawn & Body Your Daily Dose July 3


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Dear Reader:

 

Administration Delays Part of Health Care Law Requiring Large Employers to Provide Coverage

This is huge news and every large, reputable news outlet was carrying it almost immediately. On Tuesday, July 2, The Associated Press, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, Politico, CNN, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal each blasted similar headlines:

Key Obama Care Provision to be Delayed

They were referring to that part of the Affordable Care Act that requires that large employers to provide health coverage for their workers and report that activity.

Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett cast the decision as part of an effort to simplify data reporting requirements. She said since enforcing the coverage mandate is dependent on businesses reporting about their workers' access to insurance, the administration decided to postpone the reporting requirement, and with it, the mandate to provide coverage. "We have and will continue to make changes as needed," Jarrett wrote in a White House blog post. "In our ongoing discussions with businesses we have heard that you need the time to get this right. We are listening."

While GOP leaders were quick to react, hammering the delay as evidence that the law is unworkable, Democratic leaders were quieter Tuesday evening. One exception was Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who tweeted that the decision shows President Obama is "in it for long haul to fully implement" the healthcare law.

The change does not affect other central provisions of the law, in particular those establishing health care marketplaces in the states — known as exchanges — where individual Americans without health insurance can shop from a menu of insurance policies. Under those provisions, subsidies are available for lower-income individuals who qualify. However, it will be difficult for officials running the exchanges to know who is entitled to subsidies if they are not able to confirm whether employers are offering insurance to their employees. Enrollment in the exchanges is to begin on Oct. 1, and they are to take effect on Jan. 1.

It’s unclear what effect the announcement will have on the health law's goal of providing coverage to millions of American who do not now have it. Although many large employers do provide insurance, the benefits packages vary widely. Workers whose employers do not offer coverage, and now have an additional year to do so, will be forced to go to the exchanges to get coverage.

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Eric Von

Publisher/Editor