Pens, phones and a president
As President Barack Obama (D) has frequently noted, "I have a pen and I have a phone" so to hell with the Constitution, with other laws, not to mention such new fangled technology as e mail, texting and instagram, I'll do what I want which I, as a renowned authoritative Constitutional law professor and community organizer, will do. I dare you to stop me. And so far, no one has.
The latest presidential diktat happened yesterday with the ever malleable (Un)Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Obamacare is "settled law" meaning Obama can interpret and reinterpret his namesake law and change it to however it settles most conveniently for him.
This is how he resettled it again yesterday.
The Obama administration announced Monday it would give medium-sized employers an extra year, until 2016, before they must offer health insurance to their full-time workers.
Firms with at least 100 employees will have to start offering this coverage in 2015.
By offering an unexpected grace period to businesses with between 50 and 99 employees, administration officials are hoping to defuse another potential controversy involving the 2010 health-care law, which has become central to Republicans' campaign to make political gains in this year's midterm election.
Why, how convenient--employers will have to offer the new and unimproved health insurance after the November, 2014 Congressional elections instead of before. Oh.
Even the nation's largest employers got a significant concession: They can avoid a fine by offering coverage to 70 percent of their full-time employees in 2015 and 95 percent starting in 2016. Under an earlier proposal, employers with at least 50 employees would have been required to offer insurance, beginning 2015, to 95 percent of those who work 30 hours or more a week, along with their dependents.
"Unexpected grace period." Here is a suggestion for "an unexpected grace period"--extend it for oh, say, another 100 years. Til then, maybe we can purchase health insurance the same way we get our home owners and auto insurance. Surely by then technological advances beyond pens and phones will improve so Obamacare will no longer be needed.