By Dave Andrusko
I was in the drive through at Chick fil A last night, getting a late dinner for my wife and youngest daughter, when I actually heard an utterly amazing interview on NPR. A reporter told the host that it’s possible [actually it’s likely] that come January 1, more people will have lost their insurance, courtesy of ObamaCare, than will have been added to the rolls. In an aside (but a hugely important aside), he casually remarked that the insurance so many people had before they were cancelled—which the President dismisses as “junk”– is actually good insurance, meeting their needs.
When the truth seeps in even at NPR, then you know the evidence must be overwhelming.
Here are a few thoughts as we end the week at National Right to Life News Today about the disaster that is Healthcare.gov.
Under the headline, “ObamaCare: One punt after another,” POLITICO’s David Nather and Joanne Kenen begin their story by observing
“On Thursday, the Obama administration gave customers permission to pay their premiums as late as Dec. 31 for coverage that starts Jan. 1, and officially gave customers an extra week — until Dec. 23 — to sign up for January coverage.
“The move was just the latest in a long list of extensions, delays and punts that have plagued the health care law. … It’s an attempt to put out fires — but it’s also a painful admission that, yes, there are fires.”
NRL News Today has written about many of the major fires, although there are many other brushfires we haven’t had time to address. With respect to his particular “extension,” it’s not like it’s unusual. It’s just that the urgency has become more urgent the closer we get to the end of December.
“The latest fires are all linked to the possibility that people wouldn’t be able to sign up for coverage in time for Jan. 1, possibly leaving sick people, and previously insured people, temporarily without health insurance — a nightmare scenario for a law that was supposed to expand health coverage,” Nather and Kenen write.
So their story is about how HHS is scrambling to try to get out of the bind it—and by extension the entire Obama administration—is in. HHS is asking lots more, according to blogger Allahpundit. “Among the guidance the HHS announced,” he writes
“– It is requiring insurers to accept payments until Dec. 31 for coverage starting on Jan. 1. It is also ‘urging’ insurers to give individuals more time beyond that to pay for coverage. In other words, if somebody pays for coverage in the middle of January, HHS is asking insurers to retroactively make that person’s coverage effective as of Jan. 1. HHS is also asking insurers to cover individuals who offer a ‘down payment,’ even if that payment only covers part of the first month’s premiums.
“– In a press release, HHS said it was also ‘strongly encouraging insurers to treat out-of-network providers as in-network to ensure continuity of care for acute episodes or if the provider was listed in their plan’s provider directory as of the date of an enrollee’s enrollment.’
“– HHS is also ‘strongly encouraging insurers to refill prescriptions covered under previous plans during January.’…
“Of course, for insurers who have spent years designing plans to comply with the law, this would present huge and unreasonable logistical hurdles.”
You get the picture. There are a lot more details but one takeaway we know we can count on is that the Obama administration will shift all the blame to others when the crisis really kicks in in the spring.