The official reason given by the Administration for delaying, by one year, Obamacare’s mandate that employers with more than 50 full-time workers provide insurance coverage or face fines is employers need more time to implement it. The unofficial reason is the Republicans’ incessant efforts to bulldoze the law – fighting it through the courts, refusing to appropriate enough funds to implement it, holding ongoing votes in the House to repeal it, and organizing Republican-led states to undermine it. The GOP’s gleeful reaction to the announced delay confirms it will make repeal a campaign issue for the third straight election cycle, which probably contributed to the White House decision to postpone the employer mandate until after the midterms. “The fact remains that Obamacare needs to be repealed,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, on hearing the news. Technically, postponement won’t affect other major provisions of the law (although it may be difficult to subsidize workers who don’t get employer-based insurance if employers don’t report on the coverage they provide), but it’s a bad omen. The longer the act is delayed, the more time Republicans have to demonize it before average Americans receive its benefits. The GOP raged against Social Security in 1935 and made war on Medicare in 1965, but in each case Americans soon realized how important they were to their economic security.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 15:39:07 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015