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http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-12-08/anything-see-here
Two-years have passed since the signing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare). At this point, one thing is clear, there was a significant "drafting" mistake in the original legislation.
There has been an on-going fight over this. I think it's coming to a
boil. If so, it couldn't come at worse time for the Administration. Some
connecting dots:
-A
critical component of ACA was the establishment of Health Insurance
Exchanges (HIXs). This was supposed to guarantee the availability of
"affordable" insurance. Each state will have a HIX.
-Under ACA, a state could either, 1) establish its own HIX, 2) Do a partial HIX with federal support, or 3) Let D.C. pick up the whole thing.
-ACA provided strong incentives to the states to choose option #1 (90% reimbursement). It was originally assumed that a high percentage of the states would set up their own HIXs.
-To
make the cost of insurance "affordable" there were tax-credits
available for lower income individuals and families. These tax-credits
are an essential ingredient to Obamacare.
-The following is the key language that is now in question: (Link)
Tax credits are available if
(A)
the monthly premiums for such month for 1 or more qualified health
plans offered in the individual market within a State which cover the
taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, or any dependentof the taxpayer and.....
......which were enrolled through an Exchange established by the State
The tax credits are limited to those states that establish their own HIX. Period.
The Letter of the Law reads, (clearly to me) that the ACA tax credits
are not available in states that choose to have D.C. manage the required
HIX (option #3)
-Many
states have refused to set up their own HIX. The following shows the
tally as of 11/29. Yesterday, NJ's Chris Christie, surprisingly, said
"Nix to HIX".
-If the tax credits for "No HIX" states were to go away, Obamacare goes down for the count.
-The Obama Administration "fixed" the problematic "drafting error".
The President called the Treasury Secretary, (Geithner) and told him to
fix it. Timmy, in turn, called the boss at the IRS, Doug Schulman, and
told him to fix it. Doug issued a ruling that "eliminates" the
conflicting language. Poof! The problem goes away. Maybe.
-Without
the consent of Congress, the IRS changed the letter of the law on the
most significant legislation in the past fifty-years. With out the IRS
ruling, ACA was D.O.A.
Two-years have passed since the signing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare). At this point, one thing is clear, there was a significant "drafting" mistake in the original legislation.
There has been an on-going fight over this. I think it's coming to a
boil. If so, it couldn't come at worse time for the Administration. Some
connecting dots:
-A
critical component of ACA was the establishment of Health Insurance
Exchanges (HIXs). This was supposed to guarantee the availability of
"affordable" insurance. Each state will have a HIX.
-Under ACA, a state could either, 1) establish its own HIX, 2) Do a partial HIX with federal support, or 3) Let D.C. pick up the whole thing.
-ACA provided strong incentives to the states to choose option #1 (90% reimbursement). It was originally assumed that a high percentage of the states would set up their own HIXs.
-To
make the cost of insurance "affordable" there were tax-credits
available for lower income individuals and families. These tax-credits
are an essential ingredient to Obamacare.
-The following is the key language that is now in question: (Link)
Tax credits are available if
(A)
the monthly premiums for such month for 1 or more qualified health
plans offered in the individual market within a State which cover the
taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, or any dependentof the taxpayer and.....
......which were enrolled through an Exchange established by the State
The tax credits are limited to those states that establish their own HIX. Period.
The Letter of the Law reads, (clearly to me) that the ACA tax credits
are not available in states that choose to have D.C. manage the required
HIX (option #3)
-Many
states have refused to set up their own HIX. The following shows the
tally as of 11/29. Yesterday, NJ's Chris Christie, surprisingly, said
"Nix to HIX".
-If the tax credits for "No HIX" states were to go away, Obamacare goes down for the count.
-The Obama Administration "fixed" the problematic "drafting error".
The President called the Treasury Secretary, (Geithner) and told him to
fix it. Timmy, in turn, called the boss at the IRS, Doug Schulman, and
told him to fix it. Doug issued a ruling that "eliminates" the
conflicting language. Poof! The problem goes away. Maybe.
-Without
the consent of Congress, the IRS changed the letter of the law on the
most significant legislation in the past fifty-years. With out the IRS
ruling, ACA was D.O.A.