Major Obamacare requirement delayed
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In a major concession to business groups, the Obama administration Tuesday unexpectedly announced a one-year delay, until 2015, in a central requirement of the new health care law that medium and large companies provide coverage for their workers or face fines.
“We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively,” Treasury Assistant Secretary Mark Mazur said in a blog post. “We have listened to your feedback and we are taking action.”
Under the law, companies with 50 or more workers must provide affordable coverage to their full-time employees or risk a series of escalating tax penalties if just one worker ends up getting government-subsidized insurance. Business groups have complained since the law passed that the provision was too complicated.
“It seems like a positive move,” said Cara Clarke, senior director of communications for the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce. “The new law is very confusing to a lot of businesses.”
Clarke said the delay will give businesses more time to understand how the law impacts them and what options they have to comply with it.
“That’s a very significant announcement,” said Quincy Branch, president and CEO of Branch Benefits Consultants in Las Vegas. “A lot of employers were gearing up to implement the health care law. With that delay, you can hear a great big sigh go up across the Las Vegas Valley.”
The unexpected decision is sure to anger liberals and labor groups, but it could provide cover for Democratic candidates in next year’s congressional elections. On a state level, Nevada officials continue to implement the law as necessary.
Jake Sunderland, public information director for the Nevada Division of Insurance, said they are still preparing for health insurance filing coming next year. The announcement doesn’t affect the main coverage in the law – the individual mandate and the new subsidized insurance markets.
“We are going to continue to implement the law in a way that benefits Nevadans,” said Sunderland.
While the White House sacrificed timely implementation of a key element of President Barack Obama’s health care law, the move also undercuts Republican efforts to make the overhaul and the costs associated with new requirements a major issue in congressional races. Democrats are defending 21 Senate seats to the Republicans’ 14, and the GOP had already started to excoriate Senate Democrats who had voted for the health law in 2009.
Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarret cast the decision as part of an effort to simplify data reporting requirements.
She said since enforcing the coverage mandate is dependent on businesses reporting about their workers’ access to insurance, the administration decided to postpone the reporting requirement, and with it, the mandate to provide coverage.
We have and will continue to make changes as needed,” Jarrett wrote in a White House blog post. “In our ongoing discussions with businesses we have heard that you need the time to get this right. We are listening.”
Reporter Chris Sieroty contributed to this story. Contact him at csieroty@reviewjournal.com or (702) 477-3893. Follow @sierotyfeatures on Twitter.
