The Hidden Cost of Obamacare Delays

You know I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I do know that the more you put off doing something the harder it becomes to actually do it!  This blog is a perfect example of this premise.  I have pushed this back a few weeks now, and have started and stopped several times.  I have 3 drafts written that are about completely different topics because some of the information that I was going to impart on those who read my blog have ACTUALLY CHANGED since the last time I wrote on this topic!!

You may or may not know that President Obama announced another delay in a key component of his landmark health care law last week.  On Monday February 10, 2014 the president unilaterally decided to delay the “play or pay” provision for employers with 50 to 99 workers for an additional year.  If you are unfamiliar with the term “play or pay” it simply means those employers, under the new law, would have to provide health insurance to their workers OR pay a monetary fine if they chose not to have an insurance program for their people.

I am not as bothered by the delays in these provisions as I am about the potential motives that drive them and the real costs that are generated from them.  Let me explain.  Let’s take motivations for starters.  My question is this…If the Affordable Care Act was so important for the well being of the American people, why does the man who orchestrated its origins and implementation feel the need to delay ANY part of this law?  There have now been 28 material delays in implementing this law.  Some have been small and probably necessary.  Other delays seem to be oddly timed, maybe even calculated.  The timetable for the entire rollout was oddly fashioned so as to implement the most punitive provisions conveniently after key election cycles.  So you are sitting there thinking to yourself,” of course they planned it that way, are you that naïve?”  No, I’m not, but the reality is this; if you believe that Obamacare is the right direction for our country then every delay is a wasted opportunity for you to be better off.

I find it odd that small business and individual policy holders are the only segment of the market not to be graced with a significant delay.  Health insurance carriers actually developed a strategy at the end of last year to “avoid” most small companies feeling the effects of Obamacare for an additional 12 months by offering an early renewal prior to the law going into effect on January 1, 2014.  The government doesn’t seem to be interested in those smaller fish, how does that make you feel?  I’m not trying to stir things up here, but I am a small business owner. 

The other costly side effect of all these delays and changes are the opportunity costs that exist due to the uncertainty.  Insurance companies cannot confidently invest in technology or innovation to any large extent because we don’t know from day to day what the next delay will be.  The resulting stagnation permeates the industry because no one wants to have the answers to the test only to find out that the questions have changed.  I have already discussed the “tangible” costs that some of the changes in this law have accumulated over the past 5 years. Billions have been spent on programming, revamping, restructuring and recertifying.  All of this time and brain energy has a real dollar value to it, and it is almost too bleak to think about.

This is either a good thing or a bad thing for the country long term.  Why not just let it stand on its own merit?  Rip the band aid off real fast and see how long it stings.  For those who supported it, have the guts to stand by your principles.  To those who opposed it, have a plan ready to replace it if you happen to be correct. Either way, delays or extensions just prolong the inevitable.  Let’s move on.