Endless summer – and hypocrisy

By Denis Storey

July 31, 2013

The latest fallout from the delay of the employer mandate penalty arrives in the form of actual dollars and cents. Roughly $10 billion worth of them.

At least that’s the word from the Congressional Budget Office.

But then again, how much is its word worth these days? This is the same CBO that claimed reform wouldn’t drive up premiums.

And during its drive to pass reform, the administration touted the CBO’s numbers when claiming the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was budget-neutral.

So much for all of that. And while we’re at it, as someone in our forum helpfully point out: If the government is losing this money – again, $10 billion – who’s getting it? The taxpayers – who presumably would just be keeping the money we’d otherwise be paying in penalties? (Excuse me, I mean taxes.)

Pardon me if I don’t get too worked up over that. The feds could stand to “lose” a little more money as far as I’m concerned.

Speaking of winners and losers, it’s worth noting – especially in light of July’s flurry of delays – the other exclusions that haven’t exactly been making headlines.

For starters, in a disgustingly textbook example of “Do as I say, not as I do,” reports have surfaced that Congress is still working feverishly, albeit quietly, to exclude itself – and its staff – from Obamacare.

Following suit, apparently the IRS union – the National Treasury Employees Union – doesn’t want any part of the law its members are tasked with helping enforce, according to a report from the Washington Examiner. Ouch.

But this one is the best, by far: The Contra Costa Times reported last week that one of the call centers set up in their county to answer consumer questions about PPACA will be staffed mostly by part-timers. And you know what that means, right? Yup, no health insurance included. What’s even worse – if can believe that – is that apparently, according to the report, that the feds originally advertised these gigs as full-time positions. Somewhere along the way, someone pulled the bait-and-switch, almost certainly to avoid any actual press coverage of this ingrained hypocrisy.

At what point does the outrage descend into defeated, despairing resignation? Because I think I’m getting close.

But before I get there, please join me next week for my latest web seminar. I’ll be talking with enrollment veteran Brian Ely about enrollment season – which will be here before we know it – and what it means under the shadow of PPACA implementation next year. Click here to sign up.

About the Author

Denis Storey is editor for BenefitsPro.com and Benefits Selling magazine. He can be reached at dstorey@benefitspro.com.

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