CHANGING RULES TO SAVE THE ENDANGERED SPECIES (DEMOCRATS)
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303369904579421624193271010?mod=Opinion_newsreel_5
The Endangered Senators Rule HHS delays another ObamaCare mandate to rescue Democrats.
Maybe the White House figures that if it rewrites ObamaCare enough times, the media will stop paying attention. On Wednesday it ordered one more delay of the mandates for individuals and small business—in time to give a political reprieve to Senators vulnerable in the midterm election.
The mass insurance cancellations that hit last fall were merely the first wave, and the market is still replete with health plans that have so far managed to evade ObamaCare’s onerous benefit requirements. These policies were due to be terminated starting in October, which has Democratic Senators like Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Udall of Colorado scrambling to avoid the TV ads and political blame they deserve.
When the last ObamaCare tornado destroyed the insurance neighborhood, the Health and Human Services Department suddenly announced an ex post facto delay of the mandates in November, but the political damage was done. HHS learned its lesson and late on Wednesday announced a new pre-emptive rule that extends the mandate suspension until 2016. This may give insurers enough lead time to preserve existing coverage and avert a 2013 reprise at, er, a politically sensitive moment.
If you doubt this political motivation, HHS distributed a backgrounder to reporters noting that the new rule was “developed in close consultation with members of Congress.” The fact sheet mentions Senators by name, “including but not limited to” Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Udall, Mark Warner of Virginia and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, plus nine House Democrats. Supposedly nonpartisan agencies like HHS are usually more subtle.
Whether or not this temporary regulatory leniency avoids more insurance disruption, the gambit shows the White House is terrified of a Republican Senate that would be rightly viewed as an ObamaCare repudiation. Now it is even willing to pose as an ideological Saint Augustine: ObamaCare cancels all noncompliant plans because letting people keep the plans they like is a threat to government control—just don’t cancel them yet.
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