Executive order it. Order all Federal employees to cease processing any Obamacare activity. What's congress going to do? Grow a backbone for a change?
Make em.
You really have no idea of what you are talking about.
The ACA (Affordable Healthcare Act) is a whole heck of a lot more than just the Health Care Exchanges (what most people think of as “Obamacare”).
As a PR and HRIS manager I, along with our benefits manager, our broker, our health insurance company and other vendors, was very heavily involved in implementing the changes needed for ACA implementation and compliance. I cannot tell you the amount of hours and the work and money involved in the implementation and in the initial and on-going compliance. And in some ways, a “de-implementation” of ACA could be just as painful and costly to employers and insurance companies. It is not as if one can wave a magic wand and say “never mind”. And that is assuming just turning back the clock - going back to a pre-ACA state.
When Trump talks about “Obamacare” (and what he and others should really be calling it is ACA) note he is talking about “Repeal and Replace” and the “Replace” part is what worries me.
A repeal or even a simplification of the onerous reporting requirements along with penalties placed on employers, stopping the IRS year end reporting and pentalies for those without coverage would be a good thing, but I don’t have much confidence that one set of onerous legislation won’t be replaced by something equally onerous.
Order all Federal employees to cease processing any Obamacare activity.And just what is “Obamacare activity” to you? Do you even know? Do you realize as I already said, the ACA is a lot more than just the healthcare exchanges?
What is that going to do for the 13 or so states that run their own health insurance market places? Is Trump going to EO those states and state employees to also “cease processing any Obamacare activity”?
How does that effect the people who are in a federal or a state run exchange and have paid their premiums and how does that effect the people enrolled in exchanges who are eligible for and depending on subsidies? What happens to their claims and how will the providers get paid for services already provided?
How does this effect those between 19 and 26 who are currently covered under a parent’s plan? Are they on “day one” SOL?
What is that going to do to change the ACA requirements on private (employer or individual) insurance plans?
The ACA was a cluster f and a very bad idea. But the idea that a simple EO could make it magically go away is naïve at best and dangerous.
And it is also naïve to think that such an EO action would suddenly cause premiums to drop. If anything, adding more confusion and uncertainty to the insurance market place would likely cause additional increases.
And speaking of not knowing what “Obamacare” is and isn’t, even Trump doesn’t understand what his own company offers…
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/10/25/health-coverage-confusion-as-trump-attacks-horrible-obamacare/“I can say all of my employees are having a tremendous problem with Obamacare,” Mr. Trump said. “You folks, this is another group. Is that a correct statement? I mean you look at what they’re going through. What they’re going through with their health care is horrible because of Obamacare. So we’ll repeal it and replace it.”
David Feder, Trump Doral’s general manager, said after Mr. Trump’s event that the resort provides health insurance coverage to nearly all of the resort’s 1,200 employees.
“There really isn’t a need for the vast majority of our employees to purchase Obamacare,” Mr. Feder said.
Mr. Feder said he was not certain what Mr. Trump meant when he said the Affordable Care Act was causing problems for Trump employees.
“I wouldn’t say he’s incorrect,” Mr. Feder said. “I would tell you that the only employees I know who may purchase Obamacare are typically part-timers. Again, they’re not full-time employees, so they wouldn’t be eligible for the benefits, and typically in corporate America that’s the way it is.”
Later, during an interview on Fox News, Mr. Trump said his employees don’t use the Affordable Care Act at all.
“I don’t use much Obamacare, to be honest with you,” he said. “I’m at Trump National Doral and we don’t use Obamacare. We don’t want it.”
