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Unpublished CRS Memo: Obama Administration Has Missed Half Of Obamacare’s Legally Imposed Implementation Deadlines

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Cong Library - Main Reading RoomIn recent months, President Obama and his subordinates have waived or delayed a number of Obamacare’s notable features, such as the law’s employer mandate, and its procedures for protecting taxpayers from fraud and identity theft.

Earlier this month, in that context, I obtained a heretofore-unpublished memorandum from the Congressional Research Service. The CRS, Congress’ non-partisan in-house think tank, compiled 82 deadlines that the Affordable Care Act mandates upon the first three years of its own implementation. Remarkably, it turns out that the White House has missed half of the deadlines legally required by the ACA. And some of those deadlines remain unmet to this day.

The new CRS memo, dated June 5, 2013, is an addendum to a series of previous reports in which the agency examined missed deadlines during the law’s first two years. The CRS excluded from its analysis deadlines that don’t reflect on the administration’s competence; for example, as states expand Medicaid, the federal spending associated with those expansions occurs more or less automatically. Deadlines that the law imposes on non-federal government actors, like state governments and private companies, were also excluded.

41 out of 82 deadlines missed by the administration.

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Many 2016 Republican Hopefuls Agree: Defund ObamaCare

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Paul-Cruz-LeeMany Republicans who are eyeing a run for president in 2016 are backing an all-or-nothing plan to defund ObamaCare.

More than half a dozen possible GOP White House candidates support that strategy while a handful are calling for a more nuanced approach to defunding or repealing the healthcare law. Another five are dodging questions and a couple others are not signaling one way or another.

In short, some are willing to go to the brink and beyond of a government shutdown to defund ObamaCare. But it’s far from unanimous.

Still, the results of The Hill’s survey favors the shutdown-showdown strategy hatched by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), thanks to outspoken endorsements from GOP frontrunners, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

The Florida Republican and three other colleagues also entertaining presidential runs — Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) — have backed Lee’s effort by refusing to support government funding bills that include money for ObamaCare.

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Conservative Group Comes Out Against Mitch McConnell

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McConnell_A national conservative group says they are preparing to run negative ads against Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, accusing him not being supportive of the new conservative strategy to defund Obamacare.

In an email to supporters Friday, Senate Conservatives Fund Executive Director Matt Hoskins said the organization is “preparing to launch a statewide media campaign in Kentucky to expose McConnell’s record on this issue and to persuade him to lead the fight.”

“Mitch McConnell is telling people he opposes Obamacare while he refuses to oppose its funding,” Hoskins said. “We can’t let him have it both ways.”

A group of conservative senators — led by Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — are pushing a strategy to not vote for a continuing resolution to keep funding the federal government unless President Barack Obama’s healthcare law is defunded as part of the legislation.

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FreedomWorks Makes Big Anti-Obamacare Push

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Photo Credit: John ShinkleConservatives are plotting an aggressive push during the last two weeks of August to boost the controversial effort in Congress to oppose spending bills this fall that contain funding for Obamacare.

FreedomWorks is working with local conservative activists to question senators at home-state events about their objections to a letter spearheaded by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) vowing to vote against bills with funding for the health care law. That letter is stuck at 13 signers and FreedomWorks is keeping a running tally of senators’ support or opposition to the letter. Heritage Action for America also plans a barnstorming tour this month intended to drive more senators’ support to the letter.

“It’s sad to see once-great organizations sacrifice years of credibility on the altar of bad strategy,” said a Republican Senate aide.

Among the lawmakers being targeted by FreedomWorks are GOP Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas. The activists plan to demonstrate outside the office of Burr in response to his comment that a shutdown over Obamacare funding is the “dumbest idea I’ve ever heard of” and attend a Coburn town hall in Muskogee, Okla., to ask why Coburn considers the tactic “dishonest.”

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Poll: Less than 3 Percent of Federal Workers Want to Join Obamacare

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerBy Patrick Howley

Less than 3 percent of U.S. federal workers want to give up their current health plans and join Obamacare, according to a new poll.

92.3 percent of federal workers think that they should continue with their current health insurance program, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), while just 2.8 percent think they should be required to join Obamacare exchanges and 4.9 percent are not sure, according to an August survey conducted by FedSmith.com, a website for federal employees.

“There is apparently little debate among the federal workforce. Federal employees do not want to be part of the new system… Employees who are already retired have a much stronger negative reaction to being moved to a new system,” FedSmith.com noted.

Though congressmen and congressional staffers have to enroll in Obamacare exchanges, most federal employees insured under FEHBP will not be forced to switch to Obamacare exchanges when the law is fully implemented in 2014. But a recent proposed bill by Michigan Republican Rep. Dave Camp to force federal workers out of FEHBP and into Obamacare generated a lot of concern among federal workers.

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ObamaCare cap on out-of-pocket costs delayed, Sen. Paul calls move ‘illegal’

By Fox News

A report that another provision of ObamaCare — one that would cap out-of-pocket health care costs — was being delayed brought a defiant challenge Tuesday from a top Senate Republican, accusing the president of “illegal and unconstitutional” acts in changing laws without congressional approval.

“The president doesn’t get to write legislation, and it’s illegal and unconstitutional for him to try and change legislation by himself,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told Fox News.

The New York Times first reported on Tuesday that the administration is giving some insurers and employers a one-year grace period to adhere to the limit, which otherwise would have capped individual costs at $6,350 a year. The full requirement will go into effect in 2015, rather than 2014. The change means some employers — namely, those with more than one benefit provider — could use plans with higher limits or no limit at all on out-of-pocket costs during that period.

The grace period apparently was granted earlier this year, though was buried in reams of regulatory material and was not publicly reported until now. Department of Labor guidelines published in February had addressed the delay.

The confirmation comes weeks after the administration announced it was delaying a key insurance mandate — the requirement on mid-sized and large businesses to provide coverage to full-time workers. The mandate, and the cap on costs, were both delayed for one year, in a move officials claimed was meant to give businesses more time to prepare.

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Health Group’s ObamaCare Enrollment Drive Targets States with GOP Governors

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A leading campaign to promote ObamaCare enrollment is targeting 10 states, mostly with Republican governors hostile to the law.

The window to begin enrolling in the law’s new coverage options opens in just 50 days. Enroll America, a prominent nonprofit with close ties to the White House, said it’s focusing on 10 states as it ramps up a massive education campaign that will ultimately cost tens of millions of dollars.

Enroll America President Anne Filipic emphasized that the group’s mission is not to promote ObamaCare politically but to provide nuts-and-bolts information about how the law works and to encourage people to sign up for new coverage options.

“This is not a conversation about politics,” Filipic said. “This is a conversation about what does this mean to you, to your family, to your pocketbook. And there’s such power in that.”

Of the 10 states Enroll America is targeting — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas — nine have Republican governors.

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Gohmert: President Lied About GOP on Obamacare

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreRep. Louie Gohmert charged on Sunday that President Barack Obama lied when he said during his White House press conference Friday that Republicans want to stop Americans from getting health care.

“That’s a false narrative. He said that we’re trying to keep people from getting health care. That’s just not true. That is an absolute, blatant lie,” the Texas Republican said. “We’re not trying to keep anybody from getting health care. And whether or not they have insurance under an exchange or not does not prevent people from getting health care.”

Gohmert was appearing on a political roundtable panel on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday with a fellow Texas congressman, Democrat Joaquín Castro, who defended Obama’s remarks and criticized Republicans for “extreme ideology.”

“The fact is you have millions and millions of Americans that can’t afford health insurance. Obamacare is helping people get health insurance. Republicans have offered no other solutions or plans,” Castro said, adding over Gohmert’s objection: “At this point, Louie, it’s just, you know, ideology. It’s just extreme ideology.”

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Reid Says Obamacare Just a Step Toward Eventual Single-Payer System

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In just about seven weeks, people will be able to start buying Obamacare-approved insurance plans through the new health care exchanges.

But already, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is predicting those plans, and the whole system of distributing them, will eventually be moot.

Reid said he thinks the country has to “work our way past” insurance-based health care during a Friday night appearance on Vegas PBS’ program “Nevada Week in Review.”

“What we’ve done with Obamacare is have a step in the right direction, but we’re far from having something that’s going to work forever,” Reid said.

When then asked by panelist Steve Sebelius whether he meant ultimately the country would have to have a health care system that abandoned insurance as the means of accessing it, Reid said: “Yes, yes. Absolutely, yes.”

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Obamacare Installs New Scrutiny, Fines for Charitable Hospitals that Treat Uninsured People

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Charitable hospitals that treat uninsured Americans will be subjected to new levels of scrutiny of their nonprofit status and could face sizable new fines under Obamacare.

A new provision in Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code, which takes effect under Obamacare, sets new standards of review and installs new financial penalties for tax-exempt charitable hospitals, which devote a minimum amount of their expenses to treat uninsured poor people. Approximately 60 percent of American hospitals are currently nonprofit.

Charity for the uninsured is one of the factors that could discourage enrollment in Obamacare, which requires all Americans to purchase health insurance or else face new taxes themselves from the IRS.

“It requires tax-exempt hospitals to do a community needs survey and file additional paperwork with the IRS every three years. This is to prove that the charitable hospital is still needed in their geographical area — ‘needed’ as defined by Obamacare and overseen by IRS bureaucrats,” said John Kartch, spokesman for Americans for Tax Reform.

“Failure to comply, or to prove this continuing need, could result in the loss of the hospital’s tax-exempt status. The hospital would then become a for-profit venture, paying income tax — hence the positive revenue score” for the federal government, Kartch said. “Obamacare advocates turned over every rock to find as much tax money as possible.”

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Media Fail: 63% Want Congress to Keep Going After ObamaCare

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One of the new talking points we are seeing throughout the mainstream media is a mocking “Here we go again” attack-narrative against the Republican Congress as they maneuver to defund ObamaCare, or work to kill various parts of ObamaCare. But a new poll shows that almost two-thirds of the American people want Congress to keep at it.

Fox News notes that when asked if the “health care law needs to be changed and Congress should keep at it, 63% said yes. That is up from 58% a year ago.”

Only 31% oppose.

Watching the news coverage these days, you get the sense that America is tired of Congress going after ObamaCare. But just the opposite is true.

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