Posted on 10/21/2013 12:07:24 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
White House press secretary Jay Carney hedged Monday on whether ObamaCare’s individual mandate could be delayed because of problems with the healthcare law’s enrollment web site.
Carney did not directly say the individual mandate could be delayed, but he did say that if people could not get access to ObamaCare, they would not be penalized.
Under the healthcare law, uninsured Americans are required to sign up for health insurance. If they don’t, they could be hit with a fine.
Carney was asked Monday if people would have to pay a fine if they couldn’t enroll in ObamaCare because of a glitchy website that the administration has struggled to fix.
Carney said that those “without access to affordable care due to a state not expanding Medicaid or other factors” would not be penalized. A number of states have decided against accepting federal money to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare.
Carney then dodged a question about whether the website could be one of those factors.
“We are focused on implementing the law and ensuring that people have the information they need,” Carney said.
In an interview later Monday on MSNBC, White House communications director Jen Palmieri said the administration doesn't think it will have to make the decision because it expects to fix the healthcare law's problems.
"If we don't have it fixed in time is a hypothetical that we don't expect to encounter," Palmieri said. "We're taking this day by day and we're making progress every day. And we're going to keep at it and in the meantime, we're going to find these options of other ways for people to enroll."
Republicans have said Obama should delay the tax penalty because of the website’s technical problems. “Does the president think Americans should be taxed for not buying a product from a website that doesn’t work – and may not for some time?” Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said Monday.
Carney didn’t give a direct answer on whether the administration could delay the requirement to buy insurance because of website problems.
“The law is clear that if you do not have access to affordable health insurance, then you will not be asked to pay a penalty because you haven't purchased affordable health insurance,” Carney said.
Separately, Carney also said there existed “a disconnect” between the enrollment period for the healthcare law, and the time frame for when people must have health insurance.
Under the law, Americans must be covered by March 31, 2014 in order to avoid paying a penalty. But that means that they would likely need to purchase insurance by Feb. 15, because coverage typically starts on the first day of a given month and takes up to 15 days to process.
The Department of Health and Human Services may change the requirement so that uninsured Americans need only to have attempted to purchase coverage — rather than actually be insured — by the March 31 deadline.
Boehner on Monday ripped into Sebelius, arguing she should testify to give "straight answers" to the public on the problems with ObamaCare's rollout.
He also criticized comments made Monday by President Obama, who said he too was frustrated that people can't enroll in ObamaCare because of problems with its website.
“If the president is frustrated by the mounting failures of his health care law, it wasn’t apparent today,” Boehner said in a statement responding to Obama’s comments. “Americans are looking for accountability, but what the president offered today was little more than self-congratulation. Instead of answers, we got well-worn talking points. Instead of explanations, we got excuses.”..............
If Obama were forced to delay ObamaCare because of the problems Ted Cruz will come out smelling even more like a rose, John McCain and King will have egg on their face.
It will all be “our fault” if it’s delayed.
That wonderful thing millions of Americans can’t get their hands on and it’s “all the Republican’s - and especially the Ted Cruz conservative Republicans - fault.”
Don’tcha know.
DRIVE A TRUCK THROUGH IT!!!
No delays. Let America choke on it. After all, we need to eat our peas. Delays only help Obama and the Democrats.
Voters need to feel the full fury of this disaster.
It can’t be delayed without an act of congress. Of course niether could the employer mandate, legitimately. Still there is a heavy taste of irony in the scenario being played out.
Self Contradictory!
You must consider failure when you don't know day to day whether you will EVER succeed.
Unless you don't mind blindly driving a car off a cliff. Which isn't out of the question with this crowd. Indeed, destroying America is THE goal.
There’s no power like arbitrary and capricious power.
See Post #13.
Obama cannot legally delay it on his own, and Harry Reid already refused to accept a House bill to delay it.
If Obama even tries to hint at delaying it via fiat, then Boehner should demand that only an act of Congress can change the law and then he should resubmit to the Senate the bill to delay the law AND remove the waivers.
Make Reid and Obama eat it.
-PJ
This means it’s a done deal.
Shirley you jest.
Keep movin', movin', movin',
Though they're disapprovin',
Keep them doggies movin' Rawhide!
Don't try to understand 'em,
Just rope and throw and grab 'em,
Soon we'll be living high and wide.
Boy my heart's calculatin'
My true love will be waitin', be waiting at the end of my ride.
Move 'em on, head 'em up,
Head 'em up, move 'em out,
Move 'em on, head 'em out Rawhide!
Set 'em out, ride 'em in
Ride 'em in, let 'em out, Cut 'em out, ride 'em in Rawhide.
source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/rawhidelyrics.html
I don’t want it delayed. I want people to be faced with high cost sticker shock BEFORE the 2014 elections, not after them.
Very disapprovin’!
This is what happens when you try to herd too many into the pen.
http://texasranchheritage.com/?tag=hire
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