Check It Out:

What are your favorite local places for shopping, pampering or entertaining? Vote now in this year's Best Of Holiday Shopping readers' choice poll.

Delay of employer-coverage requirement raises questions about health care law

The postponement of employer coverage has people wondering if the law will see more tweaks.

Health care: what’s out

A look at how the scope of Obama’s health-care plan has narrowed in recent years:

Public option? Never mind.
Obama once trumpeted the idea of providing a public option in health care, in essence a government-run plan that would be one of many choices for people seeking affordable care. That idea, popular with liberals but opposed by conservatives and many moderates, never made it into the health-care law. In the quest for a workable compromise, Obama deemed it expendable.
Long-term care insurance? Bye bye.
When the president signed his health-care plan into law, it included a proposal to provide basic long-term care insurance at an affordable cost. Before the program ever got off the ground, though, the administration ditched it last spring for fear it would turn into a financial drain. It could take be years before lawmakers to tackle the issue again.
Coverage for the neediest? Not in every state.
The law envisioned millions of the neediest Americans gaining health insurance by enrolling in Medicaid, with coverage starting in January. But the Supreme Court threw a wrench in that plan last year when it gave states the right to opt out of the Medicaid expansion plan. Because of Republican opposition in many states, it looks like nearly 2 in 3 of those who would qualify for new Medicaid coverage may be out of luck because their state lawmakers have not agreed to expand the program.
What about workers? A longer wait.
The law requires companies with 50 or more workers to offer affordable coverage to full-time employees or risk a series of escalating tax penalties. Originally, that requirement was supposed to take effect on Jan. 1, 2014. But now the administration is pushing that requirement back a year, citing the complexity of the undertaking. Most medium and large business already offer health insurance. Those most likely to be affected by the delay: low-wage workers at hotels, restaurants and stores.

Source: Associated Press

Associated Press

Thursday, July 4, 2013

WASHINGTON — The sudden delay of a major part of President Barack Obama’s historic health care overhaul is raising questions about other potential problems lurking in the homestretch.

The requirement that many employers provide coverage is just one part of a complex law. But its one-year postponement has taken administration allies and adversaries alike by surprise.

White House officials said Wednesday that the delay was firm and won’t be extended after a year — and that the overhaul will still be fully implemented by the time Obama leaves office. But the officials, who were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations on the record and spoke only on condition of anonymity, wouldn’t rule out delays or tweaks to other provisions.

The White House action means that some companies that would have offered health insurance next year to avoid fines will not do so now. They’re mainly firms with many low-wage workers, such as restaurants, hotels and temporary staffing companies. The workers, however, will still be able to get coverage. Many may qualify for subsidized insurance through new marketplaces to debut Oct. 1, less than three months away.

The fact that new problems are popping up at this late stage could be a sign of additional troublesome issues ahead. It underscores a recent warning by the Government Accountability Office that the “timely and smooth” rollout of the new insurance markets can’t be guaranteed, partly because much of the technology to run them hasn’t been fully tested.

The timing of the announcement was also widely mentioned.

“It’s understandable that when you announce a change in the law just before the Fourth of July holiday, it raises questions,” said Drew Altman, president of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “Critics will jump on it and use it as more ammunition against the law.” The foundation is a research group that has closely followed the evolution of the health law since it was signed in 2010.

The development was seen as noteworthy by both critics and allies of the new law.

“We are concerned that the delay further erodes the coverage that was envisioned,” said Rich Umbdenstock, president of the American Hospital Association, which has supported the Affordable Care Act.

Just over a week ago, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius officially launched the 100-day countdown to the new insurance markets. Uninsured Americans in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., will be able to shop online for health plans, and most will get government subsidies to pay their premiums for coverage that takes effect Jan. 1.

In an upbeat talk to reporters, Sebelius gave no inkling the administration was about to slam the brakes on a major provision.

Former HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt says the administration may have come to a point where officials realize they can’t get everything to line up the way it was envisioned in the highly complicated legislation, and they’ll start to delay, change or jettison parts of it.

“The administration is clearly feeling disruptive vibrations and realizes too many things are happening at once,” said Leavitt.

Leavitt said he sees the delay of the employer requirement as a win-win. On a practical level, it gives employers and government regulators more time to work out difficult issues, and politically the administration appears reasonable by listening to critics at the risk of being criticized by others for the delay. Democrats running for congressional seats next year are probably thankful the issue may be muted.

White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett wrote in her blog that the administration is “on target” to open the new health insurance markets and it’s “full steam ahead.” The White House says there are no plans to delay the requirement that virtually all individuals must have health insurance by Jan. 1.

Saturday, September 14, 2013