Shot in the Dark

What If…

…the President’s “fix” were to throw the entire insurance market into complete chaos?:

The debacle threatens to swamp Obama’s entire second-term agenda, raising questions about his competency and credibility. Polls released this week show the president’s job-approval rating at a historic low and a majority of voters saying, for the first time, that he isn’t trustworthy.
“A White House interested in stabilizing this presidency would want to leave no stone unturned in the effort to deal with both those problems,” said William Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton who’s a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a center-left policy research center…Insurance companies already have devised plans for next year, received the necessary approval from states and begun to sell policies. They aren’t required to continue to offer their existing policies and state insurance commissioners aren’t required to approve those 2013 plans.

“Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for consumers,” Karen Ignagni, the president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, which represents the industry.

What was it that Kevin Williamson said? Politics are the worst possible way to allocate resources?

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Mitch Berg

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4 responses to “What If…”

  1. Emery Avatar
    Emery

    It’s too late, and ill-advised to make changes that will affect 2014. This is just political theater. We’re on this road for at least a year, and probably until at least 2018, after Obama leaves office. We’ll get to see the affects of Obamacare long after the web site gets straightened out. What is little acknowledged is that there will inevitably be further changes, no matter who is elected in 2014 and 2016. Both Democrats and Republicans will want further reform, and at least in small ways, they will get it. The most likely changes are reductions in the penalties for businesses, and lowering the minimum standards for the basic plans to reduce costs. The overall structure will likely be retained, but businesses will find a way to start putting their employees on the exchanges instead of running their own health care plans. Which is not a bad thing, but it will require more funding.

    The realistic presidential candidates for 2016 will have stopped talking about eliminating the ACA; they will be talking about fixing it.

  2. swiftee Avatar
    swiftee

    Created by morons; enacted by chicanery; commissioned by damned lies..

    This thing has more stains on it than Rob Ford’s shirt. Ted Cruz has been proven right, and since the Demorrhoids are in for a epic smackdown next year, I really believe it will be repealed and replaced.

  3. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    I am also confused by the actions of . After creating this mess, President Obama’s solution is to basically say “nevermind for now” and go back to normal. I don’t believe that President Obama really expects the insurance industry to just go back. That’s like telling the painter that the wall color is wrong color and to take the paint back down. I suspect that his suggested do-over is just a symbolic gesture that he knows isn’t practical but will be justified by the MSM and sold by them to the public. “See, he’s willing to fix it.”

    Emery is right. I also wish the realistic GOP candidates of 2012 would have worked that angle. Stopping Obamacare would be relatively easy, but is only half of the solution. The republicans should have been (and should be now) working on a viable replacement or repair for Obamacare all along.

    If I were the president, “So what have you got instead?” would have been my chant, mantra, and campaign slogan, as well as my first response to any current ACA criticism. That’s a hard arguement to ignore.

  4. Powhatan Mingo Avatar
    Powhatan Mingo

    You can add this to the list of things the media won’t tell you: The government can selectively enforce laws based on its discretion when the problem is lack of resources. This is why (until Obama, PBUH!) the Feds didn’t crack down on, and deport, illegal immigrants in large numbers. The law says they gotta leave, but by not allocating resources to do so, congress chose to allow the feds to ignore the law except in the case of the worst offenders, e.g., the illegals who they really, really wanted to get rid of.
    The executive branch selectively enforcing laws to achieve political ends, as when Obama says that insurance companies can write illegal policies, is a new thing. Kind of Caesar-like.

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