U. S. to delay key health-reform provision for ObamaCare to 2015
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Tuesday it would not require employers to provide health insurance for their workers until 2015, delaying a key provision of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law by a year, to beyond the next election. The move raised questions about the future of other provisions of the law, including the mandate for individuals to obtain health coverage in 2014, and followed widespread complaints from businesses and their lobbyists about reporting requirements for employers with 50 or more full-time workers.
Retailers and other business interests welcomed the change, which analysts said could stymie a main avenue of attack on Obama's signature domestic policy achievement as campaigning for the 2014 midterm congressional election gets under way later this year.
Republicans called it evidence that Obama's plan was a failure, while Democrats termed it a demonstration of flexibility. ...
Read more
http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/u-s-to-d...
Retailers and other business interests welcomed the change, which analysts said could stymie a main avenue of attack on Obama's signature domestic policy achievement as campaigning for the 2014 midterm congressional election gets under way later this year.
Republicans called it evidence that Obama's plan was a failure, while Democrats termed it a demonstration of flexibility. ...
Read more
http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/u-s-to-d...
DRIVING THE DAY: At 11:25 a.m., Obama speaks on the Affordable Care Act, in the East Room. His message, from a White House fact sheet out this a.m.: "Middle Class Americans Saving Billions under the Health Care Law's Medical Loss Ratio Refunds ...
President Obama will deliver remarks to discuss how the Affordable Care Act is putting money back into the pockets of over 8.5 million Americans. The President will be joined by families who have benefitted from a provision in the health care law that ensures insurance companies spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars go to medical care and health care quality improvement, rather than on administrative costs. A broad coalition of community groups who will be working on the ground across the country to help enroll Americans in the new Health Insurance Marketplaces this fall will also attend."
--FIRST LOOK - White House infographic, "Obamacare in Three Words: Saving People Money -- Obamacare means that health insurance companies have to be accountable to you. If they spend too much money on overhead and not enough on medical care, you get a rebate -- just like 8.5 million Americans this summer. ... The health reform law requires insurers to spend at least 80% of your premium dollars on Medicare."
www.whitehouse.gov/share/health-care-rebate