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Rubio: I’m introducing a bill to delay the individual mandate until the ObamaCare website is fixed
Hotair ^ | 10/22/2013 | AllahPundit

Posted on 10/22/2013 9:09:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Smart politics. It won’t pass, but then it’s not really designed to.

He said all he is calling for is a delay on the requirement until the U.S. General Accounting Office certifies the Web site is working and has been functioning for six consecutive months.

Rubio said he’s hopeful the measure will pass, especially as the deadline draws closer. “As weeks go on, there’s going to be a look for a solution to the problem. It’s not fair to punish people for buying something that’s not available,” he said. “Quite frankly, I think that’s where we’re going to have to wind up anyway. You saw yesterday, the White House didn’t rule out a delay. Jay Carney didn’t rule it out because they understand that the problems that this web site faces are significant and are going to be very difficult to fix in a number of weeks.”

Says one commenter in Headlines of Rubio’s bill, “It would collapse the insurance market.” Indeed it would, potentially. Delay the mandate for months and you’re all but guaranteeing that healthy uninsured people won’t sign up soon, which means insurers won’t have the new revenue they were banking on to cover sick people’s preexisting conditions. Voila — you’ve created the conditions for an industry death spiral. Democrats know it too, just like they also know that they’re not getting anything like single-payer through Congress so long as there’s a Republican majority in the House. So they have no choice but to oppose Rubio’s bill and defeat it in the Senate, even though doing so will make for terrible politics. There are lots and lots and lots of things the public doesn’t understand about ObamaCare, but one thing everyone understands is that it’s unfair to punish people for not doing something the government’s made it all but impossible for them to do. Rubio’s bill essentially forces Democrats to argue that it is fair somehow in the name of keeping the mandate in effect. Would they rather do that or would they rather delay the entire law to make sure the death spiral doesn’t happen?

A separate, mostly academic question related to this is whether delaying the mandate requires Congress to pass something or whether Obama can just decide to do it on his own. His defenders, naturally, say he has unilateral authority to do it; he could invoke a “hardship” exemption under the law to declare that, because Healthcare.gov isn’t working, “no affordable qualified health plan available through the Exchange” exists for millions of people and therefore they’re off the hook on paying any penalty. That would allow him to bypass Rubio and the Republicans in setting up some sort of mandate delay, but it doesn’t solve his death-spiral problem. If O-Care fans have now reached the point where they’re gaming out the best legal strategy for putting off the mandate for awhile, we’re well into “nightmare” territory for the left.

Exit question: How many uninsured low-information voters know that the penalty for not signing up for insurance isn’t $95 but rather the higher of $95 or one percent of income? Megan McArdle included that in her list of four overlooked points about the health-care rollout a few days ago and I’ve been wondering about it ever since. Imagine you’re 25, uninsured, and generating $40,000 in income annually. The media’s given you the impression lately that you’ll have to cough up 95 bucks next March if you don’t get covered. Not so; you’ll have to cough up 400 bucks. Imagine how surprised lots of uninsured people will be when they finally find out how much they’re in for.

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: abortion; deathpanels; florida; marcorubio; obamacare; punk; zerocare
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1 posted on 10/22/2013 9:09:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Marco. Too late. Actually, I’d rather have it implemented immediately, in fact. Let’s just see who actually signs up for it. Go STFU Rubio


2 posted on 10/22/2013 9:10:27 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: SeekAndFind

Mr. Amnesty isn’t going to fool anyone with the bill and the Obama administration hasn’t admitted to any more glitches than what commercial web sites and technologies suffer.


3 posted on 10/22/2013 9:10:51 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: SeekAndFind
If the problem were only the website.

I guess anything to delay this work of Satan is good.

4 posted on 10/22/2013 9:11:15 AM PDT by frogjerk (We are conservatives. Not libertarians, not "fiscal conservatives", not moderates)
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To: SeekAndFind

No shutdowns...no defunds...no delays....let the dins ram this down the publics throat as is .


5 posted on 10/22/2013 9:11:25 AM PDT by Blackirish
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To: SeekAndFind

He’s pandering again.


6 posted on 10/22/2013 9:12:02 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Who knew that one day professional wrestling would be less fake than professional journalism?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Hasn’t his buddies McCain and Schumer told him it can’t pass the Senate?


7 posted on 10/22/2013 9:13:44 AM PDT by Zathras
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To: SeekAndFind

DON’T DELAY IT!!!

The rats had their chance. They missed it. Now let them burn.

Let the Nigerian credit scammers have their way with this joke website and Obama’s voters. Fly my pretties! Fly!


8 posted on 10/22/2013 9:16:30 AM PDT by Viennacon
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To: SeekAndFind

What courage! What bravery!

I don’t care how he stands on immigration. Now he gets my vote!


9 posted on 10/22/2013 9:16:33 AM PDT by Cyman
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To: SeekAndFind

Thanks a lot!

THAT’S being REAL proactive!


10 posted on 10/22/2013 9:16:47 AM PDT by SMARTY ("The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms." H. Amiel)
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To: Blackirish

I agree. As more and more people get thrown off their current insurance and they check out these exchanges and the horrible rates and deductibles they’ll blow a gasket. I think Obmama and the Dems will suffer mightily.


11 posted on 10/22/2013 9:17:33 AM PDT by surrey
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To: SeekAndFind

I figured McCain would rush in to rescue Obamatollah this time. But they chose Rubio.


12 posted on 10/22/2013 9:19:40 AM PDT by LyinLibs (If victims of islam were more "islamophobic," maybe they'd still be alive.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Until the website is fixed? After that, Rubio can support it, super!
This guy would have been a great Senator in Vichy France.
BTW, it really does seem that we are living in Vichy France today.
Vichy French Republicans.


13 posted on 10/22/2013 9:22:49 AM PDT by grumpygresh (Democrats delenda est. New US economy: Fascism on top, Socialism on the bottom.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Leave it alone, FGS. It will fall on its own... don’t need to help!


14 posted on 10/22/2013 9:23:33 AM PDT by ataDude (Its like 1933, mixed with the Carter 70s, plus the books 1984 and Animal Farm, all at the same time.)
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To: SeekAndFind

No Delays! American needs to feel the full force of the Obama train wreck. The more Americans who suffer, the sooner it will get repealed.


15 posted on 10/22/2013 9:23:55 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob (They are called "Liberals" because the word "parasite" was already taken.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Rubio is correct. He's taking a page out of the Ted Cruz playbook and getting ahead of the issue of a mandate to do something that can't be done. Just by bringing it up, it's his idea....not Obama's.

After the obscene, disgusting, traitorous backstabbing by US Senate RINOs caving on Obamacare, I can only conclude that their corporate elitist paymasters have found a way to profit from it, thus they want the campaign issue but actually want Obamacare. Delaying the mandate puts an end to it, because it buys time to come up with a catastrophic-only alternative to Obamacare, with as large a deductible as a person wants to have.

Forget the "campaign issue" part. Conservatives already own the campaign issue. RINOs can suffer the results of their treachery.

And I don't dislike Rubio as much as most Freepers do. I think he's coming from a different place, the FL Cuban community, and has to be enlightened about how the rest of the US feels about the invasion. I also hope he's learned that the dems can't be trusted to get rid of the invaders unless it's a pre-condition to even talking about any other aspects of the invasion.

16 posted on 10/22/2013 9:24:39 AM PDT by grania
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To: SeekAndFind

To be fair, he did back our guys last month. I am PO’d about his immigration push, but he didn’t squish out on the Obamacare battle.


17 posted on 10/22/2013 9:26:08 AM PDT by ilgipper (Obama is proving that very bad ideas can be wrapped up in pretty words)
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To: SeekAndFind

Thanks Senator come lately....but....define “fixed”....


18 posted on 10/22/2013 9:26:23 AM PDT by G Larry (Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Psalms 109:8)
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To: SeekAndFind

Marco the Rube... always a day late and a dollar short.


19 posted on 10/22/2013 9:26:57 AM PDT by VideoDoctor
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To: SeekAndFind

Don’t care Marco. You will always be dead to me. Do whatever the hell you want.


20 posted on 10/22/2013 9:28:50 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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