White House OKs limited waiver on health penalty

[Tx4obama]

Source: The AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — With website woes ongoing, the Obama administration Monday granted a six-week extension until March 31 for Americans to sign up for coverage next year and avoid new tax penalties under the president's health care overhaul law.

The move had been expected since White House spokesman Jay Carney promised quick action last week to resolve a "disconnect" in the implementation of the law.

-snip-

Under the latest policy change, people who sign up by the end of open enrollment season on March 31 will not face a penalty. That means procrastinators get a grace period.


Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/white-house-grants-extension-health-law-sign

[NYC_SKP]

1. Good. I never understood the reasons to end it so early.

And given the few glitches in the launch and the OTT criticism from the media and the RW, this should really help.

[Tx4obama]

2. The way I understand it is...

... the insurance companies based their premiums on the estimate of how many folks would be signed up by a certain date.

And having the 'penalty' in place that would start on February 15th would have pushed more folks to be signed up more quickly.

There was an article somewhere a couple days about it on the net, but I didn't read all of it.

=====


Found it. Here it is...

Delay Obamacare? Not as easy as you think

More and more Democrats worried about the 2014 election are beginning to join the Republican call to delay the Obamacare enrollment season.

But it’s not as easy as bumping things back a few days on the calendar.

Insurance companies would raise a ruckus because they set their prices based on customers enrolling before April. The Obama administration doesn’t want to push the successful enrollment stories until any later than they have to. And neither want to give procrastinators another reason to wait to sign up.

“Here’s the irony of ironies: The insurance industry is ready for Obamacare on Jan. 1. Obamacare is not ready for Obamacare on Jan. 1,” said Robert Laszewski, an insurance industry consultant with Health Policy and Strategy Associates.

In fact, insurance companies have a lot to lose from a delay. They need to start racking up paying customers as early as possible in 2014 so they can set rates for 2015.

-snip-

Full article here: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/obamacare-enrollment-delay-democrats-98877.html

[alc]

3. it gets worse

They need to start racking up paying customers as early as possible in 2014 so they can set rates for 2015.

They have paying customers on Jan. But significantly over represented by people who NEED insurance vs those who felt safe waiting until the deadline. That means higher medicals cost per average policy holder. And the MLR (medical loss ratio) in the ACA which says 80-85% of premiums must go to care will be used to request 2015 premiums at 20-25% above the medical costs of paying policy holders. While logical, it will be hard for regulators to argue that medical costs "should" have been lower so premiums can't be jacked up and still have insurers agree to provide exchange policies in 2015. Actuaries want numbers to calculate premiums and "what should have happened" is not nearly as important as "what did happen". So, there could be a huge increase in premiums in 2015 unless they get enough signup early on. They are likely to have 6 months of "expensive" policy holders and only 3 months of "cheap" policy holders before they have to request 2015 rates.

And they will use the MLR along with the lopsided numbers since the flip-side of the MLR is that the ONLY way to increase profits with ACA policies is to increase medical costs, which is exactly what any delay does.

[Igel]

9. The law, basically.

It allowed signup to a certain date.

But the law required that you be covered by the next calendar day or be penalized.

The regulations at first said, "We will ignore what's allowed in favor of complying with what's required. If we make the sign-up date earlier than the requirement, we can comply with the law's requirements."

Now the regulations are changed to say, "We will ignore what's required in favor of making sure what's allowed is still allowed. If we ignore one requirement and go with what's optional, we can avoid what will look unfair."

There's a lot of playing loose with legalities. As long as an administration knows that it won't be held accountable to the law it will act like the law is subject to it and not the other way around. It's thinking that goes back before Watergate. It's only reprehensible when there's political gain in judging it to be reprehensible.

[PoliticAverse]

4. Does anyone have a link to the administration's official announcement on this? n/t

[Tx4obama]

5. Not yet. Nothing on the WH website yet.

It 'might' eventually end up...

here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-and-releases

or here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/presidential-memoranda

or here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/executive-orders

[Tx4obama]

6. Here's a LINK to a PDF from Dept of HHS

Here: http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Fact-Sheets-and-FAQs/Downloads/enrollment-period-faq-10-28-2013.pdf

[PoliticAverse]

7. Thank you. n/t

[tomm2thumbs]

8. They should add 2 weeks for the government shutdown - just to watch GOP heads explode

Heck... throw in an extra day for EVERY time the GOP led Congress voted to end Obamacare. Let's push their noses in it.

You have to laugh that all they can do to generate bad press is going to wash away in a matter of weeks and they are not going to stop this amazing gift to the American people. No crazy coverage caps. No kicking people off their insurance if they get sick. No pre-existing condition limits. No over-the-top profits for administration costs, and coverage for the folks that are typically 'gerry-mandered' out of care by insurance company biases, their medical history or credit scores.

The GOP are watching their very essence vanish as it bubbles over and melt onto the floor and I couldn't be prouder of Obama for standing up to the GOP tea party nonsense in the House of Representatives. This is legacy for America that rests of the foundations of so many presidents' dreams before it who were unable to get it done.