President Obama’s Latest Executive Power Grabs

Last summer, a reporter questioned whether President Obama had the legal authority to unilaterally delay the health care law’s employer mandate. President Obama responded: “[I]f Congress thinks that what I’ve done is inappropriate or wrong in some fashion, they’re free to make that case … But ultimately, I’m not concerned about their opinion – very few of them, by the way, are lawyers, much less constitutional lawyers.”

President Obama threw down the gauntlet, effectively warning that if Congress won’t do exactly what he wants when he wants, then he will ignore the legislative branch – and perhaps the law – to implement his policy agenda alone. One former appellate judge explained why the Administration’s unilateral delays are significant: “[I]f the president can dispense with laws, and parts of laws, when he disagrees with them, the implications for constitutional government are dire.”

In fact, House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans report that in the past six months alone the Obama Administration has delayed parts of the health care law at least 21 times. This total does not include two recent, arbitrary executive branch changes:

• Premium Subsidies Allowed Outside Exchanges. Last Thursday, February 27, the Administration released a guidance document allowing some people to get premium subsidies and cost-sharing assistance if they bought a health insurance plan outside Obamacare’s exchanges. The health care law is explicit – people can only get premium subsidies if they buy health insurance in the Obamacare exchanges. Significant questions already exist about whether the law permits subsidies in the federal exchange. Now the Obama Administration is unilaterally offering floundering state exchanges – such as Oregon, Maryland, and Hawaii – a lifeline. The Administration will allow people who tried, and failed, to sign up in states without a functioning Obamacare exchange to retroactively enroll in a health care plan and possibly get premium subsidies. It is also allowing some people who bought a private health plan outside a failed state exchange to get the same retroactive premium subsidies. The Obama Administration is telling federal taxpayers to take on the responsibility for certain states’ inability to design and implement a functioning exchange – all in an effort to boost weak enrollment numbers.

• Extends Previous Change Allowing Some People to Keep Cancelled Coverage. Last November, under extreme political pressure, the President announced HHS would use its dubious administrative “enforcement discretion” to allow some people buying health insurance in the individual market to keep their current plans. Yesterday, the Administration extended this policy – giving state insurance commissioners the discretion to let insurers offer certain health plans that do not meet Obamacare’s minimum benefit and coverage requirements. People who would have had their health insurance plan cancelled this year due to the law’s new mandates may now be able to renew their policy through the 2016 elections.

These calculated rewrites are designed for one purpose: to mask Obamacare’s harmful effects and protect endangered congressional Democrats. For once, the Administration was forced to admit the truth. In a ‘fact sheet’ provided to the press, HHS touted that the cancelled plan renewal policy was “developed in close consultation with members of Congress”. The document specifically praised Senators Landrieu, Shaheen, Udall, and Warner – all Senators running for re-election this year.

Speaking at a town hall today, the President said he is “very proud” of the law and that “it is working the way it should”. Through its executive delays and unilateral changes, the Administration is admitting its health care law doesn’t work the way Democrats said it would. The American people understand that President Obama’s desperate “fixes” are all about politics, not people. They see a President – finding his health care law politically inconvenient – changing it on a whim, or ignoring it altogether. President Obama should immediately halt his lawless executive actions. There is only one branch of the federal government that can change the law, and that is Congress.

Health Care Headlines

Wall Street Journal: Opinion: “The Endangered Senators Rule” 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.

New York Times: “Obama Extends Renewal Period for Noncompliant Insurance Policies” The Obama Administration, struggling with continued political fallout over its troubled health care law, said Wednesday that it would allow consumers to renew health insurance policies that do not comply with the law for two more years.

Wall Street Journal: “Tax Credit Still Available to Some State Health-Exchange Users” The Obama Administration said consumers who have had trouble enrolling in health insurance in states running their own exchange could still be eligible for tax credits to help pay for the insurance.

CNBC: “Cure for some Obamacare sign-up blues? Money.” Take this monetary medicine for your Obamacare headaches. Major tech problems at several state Obamacare enrollment websites are so bad that the federal government Thursday said it would give some people who in frustration bought health insurance outside those websites the tax subsidies that otherwise would be unavailable to them.

Avalere Health: “1.1M to 1.8M New Medicaid Enrollees as a Result of ACA” Avalere issued a new study estimating that from October through December 2013, between 1.1 million and 1.8 million people have newly enrolled in Medicaid as a result of the Affordable Care Act. States that expanded Medicaid account for roughly three-fourths of new Medicaid sign-ups.