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As President I Can Do Anything I Want To Do

Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

The passage of time has a tendency to help us forget promises made with regard to principles and policies.

It is clear to me that one reason President Obama beat John McCain in 2008 was because he was going to go back to the principles of the constitution.

He taught constitutional law and professed to know how important the constitutional principles are to the laws of the land as well as our economic and political freedom.

John McCain represented the past. In the past America experienced a creep toward bigger and bigger government in order to protect our homeland security.

The result was an impingement on our religious, economic and political freedom.

President Obama does not think about the constitution in the way he did when he was trying to win the hearts and minds of the American people in 2008.

  

http://youtu.be/UBZIM0ZFiYU

If fact, after the 2012 election victory he has shown a total disregard for the United States constitution. He has a total disregard for the balance of power.

  

 

http://youtu.be/yiOmwayoSrw

 He has ignored congressional authority. He has issued executive orders changing laws at will. If congress challenges him he accuses them of being obstructionist.

President Obama has made at least 10 significant changes to Obamacare by executive order up to now. Congressmen and Supreme Court scholars have deemed that these executive orders are unconstitutional.

The Obama administration is now dowplaying his executive orders  significance.

We tend to forget abuse of power episodes. I think it is worthwhile to publish all available examples at once to get a complete feel for the abuse of power.  

These large numbers of executive changes were adopted to avoid Obamacare’s failure. Obamacare’s failures have persisted in spite of the unconstitutional changes.

 Obamacare is basically a defective bill. It should be repealed. Small patches will not repair it.

 Many of the executive orders slipped by the traditional media without discussion.

The following are President Obama’s changes by administrative action.

1. Congressional opt-out: The administration decided to offer employer contributions to members of Congress and their staffs when they purchase insurance on the exchanges created by the ACA, a subsidy the law doesn’t provide. (September 30, 2013).

This is a subsidy congress did not have the guts to fight about. It is self-serving. Why should the congress get a special privilege that ordinary people doesn’t have?

2. Delaying the individual mandate: The administration changed the deadline for the individual mandate, by declaring that customers who have purchased insurance by March 31 will avoid the tax penalty. Previously, they would have had to purchase a plan by mid February. (October 23, 2013).

In addition to this order, if a consumer signed up before December 31 they would have insurance January 1St. If they signed up by January 15th they would have insurance by February 1st. If they signed up by February 15th they would have coverage by March 1st. This occurred by executive order in order to encourage enrollment. The government is unable to process these applications. Patients had not paid premiums.

3. Employer-mandate delay: By an administrative action that’s contrary to statutory language in the ACA, the reporting requirements for employers were delayed by one year. (July 2, 2013)

This executive order was issued in July just before Independence Day. This has been typical of the Obama administration. They have released executive order when the public is emotionally preparing for a weekend or a holiday. Friday afternoon at 4.30 is a favorite time.

4. Self-attestation: Because of the difficulty of verifying income after the employer-reporting requirement was delayed, the administration decided it would allow “self-attestation” of income by applicants for health insurance in the exchanges. This was later partially retracted after congressional and public outcry over the likelihood of fraud. (July 15, 2013)

It looks like the administration knew that they did not have the computer systems’ back end connected to check income tax returns with the IRS two and one half months before on October 1st.  Congress was not consulted for advice.

5. Small businesses on hold: The administration has said that the federal exchanges for small businesses will not be ready by the 2014 statutory deadline, and has instead delayed the implementation of the SHOP (Small-Employer Health Option Program) exchanges until 2015. (March 11, 2013)

I did not realize that this executive order appeared so early in 2013.

6. Closing the high-risk pool: The administration decided to halt enrollment in transitional federal high-risk pools created by the law, blocking coverage for an estimated 40,000 new applicants, citing a lack of funds. The administration had money from a fund under Secretary Sebelius’s control to extend the pools, but instead used the money to pay for advertising for Obamacare enrollment. (February 15, 2013)

This is a mind blower. The Obama Administration decided to discontinue funding the high-risk pool in order to have the money to pay for advertising for Obamacare enrollment.

This order was issued on February 15,2013. It was seven and one-half months before Obamacare enrollment was to begin.

7. Medicare Advantage patch: The administration ordered an advance draw on funds from a Medicare bonus program in order to provide extra payments to Medicare Advantage plans, in an effort to temporarily forestall cuts in benefits and therefore delay exodus of MA plans from the program. (April 19, 2011)

Medicare Advantage was a big mistake for reasons beyond the scope of this report. Political pressure forced President Obama to take money out of one pile and apply it to the Medicare Advantage pile without consulting congress.

8. Employee reporting: The administration, contrary to the Obamacare legislation, instituted a one-year delay of the requirement that employers must report to their employees on their W-2 forms the full cost of their employer-provided health insurance. (January 1, 2012)

The one-year delay adds to the uncertainty of what is going to happen the following year. It makes hiring decisions harder for employers in the long run even though it helps in the short run. The net effect is it will be bad for the economy.

9. Doubling allowed deductibles: Because some group health plans use more than one benefits administrator, plans are allowed to apply separate patient cost-sharing limits to different services, such as doctor/hospital and prescription drugs, allowingmaximum out-of-pocket costs to be twice as high as the law intended. (February 20, 2013)

This executive order was issued in February 2013 to the advantage of the healthcare insurance industry.

10. Delaying a low-income plan: The administration delayed implementation of the Basic Health Program until 2015. It would have provided more-affordable health coverage for certain low-income individuals not eligible for Medicaid. (March 22, 2013)

The administration knew what to expect from the rollout as early as February of 2013. The executive orders changed the law in an effort to cover-up the tremendous cost overruns that will occur.

The public does not have any idea what those cost overruns will be.

It is important to see how many of these unconstitutional executive orders were released and how far back in relationship to enrollment they were ordered.

   

http://youtu.be/9FgFUOGFpnk

President Obama’s mind-set is expressed in the above You Tube video.

 As President he “can do anything he wants to do.”

 Wake up America!

 The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.

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