patrick.net

This is even worse. Just get it over with or get rid of it. The apprehension of how bad it might be is destroying employer confidence. I voted for Obama(or against Romney) but this administration is a total failure....

Health care-related stocks were under pressure Wednesday, one day after the Obama administration delayed part of last year's health care reform law until 2015.

Bitch better have my Obamacare money!

I can't help wondering how supporters will spin this. Many of them considered the individual mandate irrelevant because their employers would be required to provide "free" insurance. Now employers won't be required to provide anything, but the employees will still be required to comply with the individual mandate. I also wonder what supporters will say if the other shoe drops, i.e. if the subsidies get reduced but the individual mandate remains. I can think of one bright side to the current story: the current employer dominated market is even worse than a free market of individual customers choosing what they want, so eliminating the employer mandate would be a good step, if the individual mandate were eliminated along with it.

It's my fault!

The Liberal schills here probably took heart, and ran to the DNC and said...
"CaptainShuddup sez, that come January 1st when Obamacare goes into effect, it will separate the Democrats from those that were lied to, when they get their first Medical bill..."

There are midterm elections to consider. The Democrats were slated to lose every seat up for reelection.

curious2 says

"The requirement that businesses provide their workers with health insurance or face fines...will be delayed by one year, the Treasury Department said Tuesday.

"The delay also does not change the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to purchase insurance."

Translation: Fuck the individuals but don't dare fuck businesses.

Corporations are people. Too bad individuals aren't.

Could the 2014 mid term elections have anything to do with this?

Did ppaca ever require employers to actually pay for health insurance?

I thought the only requirement was that they provided health insurance, meaning they could require employees to pay the entire cost, if they chose employer provided insurance

errc, If an employee has to contribute more than 9.5% of their household income for coverage, the employer gets hit with a penalty.

Politico, "The politics of the Obamacare delay"

The White House’s announcement Tuesday that it is postponing a key part of the law until 2015 — a tacit acknowledgement that the law isn’t quite ready for prime time — throws that latest tack into doubt."

The revelations that the White House is the center of the national spy state haven't helped a thing, in addition to the spinelessness of an administration that looks at polls to the exclusion of all else.

It's a miracle that ANY health care bill got passed, even with a Democratic party majority. Seen much outrage over how we are living in a Stasi state?

I'm also wondering about the President saying, "I'm not going to enforce that law, even though I signed it." Can he do the same with the drug laws, i.e. end the drug war by announcing he won't enforce anymore? It seems a bit incongruous to say that he's going to keep busting people for possession, while letting Walmart off the hook for not providing the mandatory insurance that Obamacare requires.

@mmmarvel, Prop H8 is off topic, but your post is completely counterfactual. Read before you write, check your facts. Corrections below.

mmmarvel says

That is pretty much what happened to prop 8 - the governor signed it, so it was law.

The governor never signed Prop H8. Both Governor Schwarzenegger and Governor Brown opposed it, as did the Democratic party, which won the 2008 and 2012 elections campaigning against H8.

mmmarvel says

the people can pass (by referendum) anything they want, but if the lords of government don't like what was passed by the people, they simply get someone to challenge it in court, the government doesn't show up to defend it....

If people put an unconstitutional measure on a state ballot, and vote for it, they should expect it to get thrown out. That is our social contract, there would be no constitutional rights at all if they could be stripped away so easily. Gun control initiatives have likewise been approved by voters and then thrown out by the courts, but I don't see you complaining about that. 52% voted for H8, and the state government defended it in the federal district court, and the court sided with the petitioners. If you don't like having constitutional rights, consider relocating to a place that doesn't have them; you might prefer some of the Muslim countries, where a religious mob can do whatever they want to you.

mmmarvel says

You might or might not agree with prop 8

I never agreed with Prop H8. It was an unconstitutional bigoted attack orchestrated by Romnesia's cult, financed by the Vatican's crusaders (Knights of Columbus, expressly not a charity), and enacted by misguided evangelicals who had been misled into voting for it.

Even though your comment about Prop H8 was off topic, I chose to respond because the reason we're stuck with Obamacare, which polls at -10%, is because the Republican party has been taken over by religious fundamentalists who campaign on bigoted policies that poll at -40%. Specifically, the 2012 Republican platform included amending the Constitution to ban abortion (even in cases of rape or incest) and same-sex marriage. The fact that the Republican convention was disrupted by a hurricane, while the Democratic convention coincided with a rare double rainbow over the first city to celebrate same-sex marriage, should really have put an end to fundamentalists' claims about having an omnipotent god on their side. The polls and election results, and common decency, should have stopped them as well. But, for reasons of fear and loathing, Republicans insist on clinging to that agenda, like the Davidians at Waco. Why can't you simply admit you were wrong, apologize, and move on?

curious2 says

end the drug war

Hey if we are freely swinging off topic, can I chime in with;
Could the gutless mother fucker at least reschedule cannabis so that it can be studied? No, wait... he could just do away with Schedule 1, because heroin, LSD, ecstasy, and mescaline all certainly deserve study. They handle small pox and whatever else in research labs but peyote is waaay to dangerous. I wish O had not been such a disappointment in rolling back this insane repression. Too.

Obamacare may end up FUBAR.

curious2 says

I'm also wondering about the President saying, "I'm not going to enforce that law, even though I signed it."

It seems to be the new trend. That is pretty much what happened to prop 8 - the governor signed it, so it was law. However by both him and the AG refusing to defend it at the supreme court it was a default judgement for the plaintiffs. So basically the people can pass (by referendum) anything they want, but if the lords of government don't like what was passed by the people, they simply get someone to challenge it in court, the government doesn't show up to defend it and voila, the law is null and void. You might or might not agree with prop 8 but to nullify the law in this way doesn't bode well for the future.

Update: "Obama Delays Health-Insurance Mandate for Some Firms"

sbh says

Until Congress learns to contribute to voter alternatives we won't have the opportunity to vote based on inherent qualities, we will only have a single partisan proposal posed against its absence: A or notA. Only within a political context would we consider that a "choice."

Every vote on House Bill or Senate Bill is A or notA. Then followed by another vote on B or notB. As far as I know, they don't vote on A or B.

Update: "Latest Obamacare Delay Is Probably Illegal"

So what happened to "can't delay anything - it's the law of the land" argument so popular here during the last debt ceiling battle?

Straw Man says

So what happened to "can't delay anything - it's the law of the land" argument so popular here during the last debt ceiling battle?

The usual, that's what happened.