Reality Hitting Obama Care

wednesday, Jul 03 2013 12AM  71°F 3AM 71°F 5-Day Forecast

Obamacare employer mandate delayed until 2015 to give Democrats breathing room until after 2014 midterm elections, says Treasury source

By David Martosko In Washington

Obamacare penalties - what the Supreme Court called 'taxes' - are the teeth in the law's enforcement mechanisms, but the administration has decided to hold off fining anyone for noncompliance until at least 2015

A Treasury Department official who declined to be named confirmed to MailOnline on Tuesday that the Obama administration will not begin enforcing employer mandates in the Obamacare law until 2015 - one year later than originally planned - and pinned that change of direction on a combination of politics and economic realities in the marketplace.

Mark Mazur, the Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy, announced on the agency's blog that the administration 'will provide an additional year before the ... mandatory employer and insurer reporting requirements begin.'

The blog post explained that the delay was intended to leave time to simplify reporting requirements and give companies time to adapt.

But the Treasury source said the extra year will give the White House an extra year to persuade health insurers to participate in the exchanges that make up the backbone of the Affordable Care Act.

The revised timetable, the source added, will also push back the final implementation of Obamacare's penalties past the 2014 midterm elections, providing Republicans fewer chances to highlight the law's potentially harmful effects on businesses' bottom lines.

Boy, reality really hurts. Team Obama is finally catching on to the fact that the rushed ill-conceived PACA biil is loaded with serious flaws. Dems have been complaining that this issue could be a killer for them in 2014, so the White House is backing off the implementation. Good, maybe they'll come to senses and use the extra year to fix the deficiencies in this monstrosity, How many more companies are going to reduce their workers hours to under 30 per week so that they don't have to be covered? The real solution to this problem will never be dealt with, that is decoupling healthcare from employment. That would force the insurance companies to be competitive just as they are in auto, life and homeowners insurance. Imagine if they were based on employment?