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.
