Quickly ducking out of town just as Kathleen Sebelius announces that anyone who lost their insurance coverage as a result of Obamacare can opt-out of coverage and claim a hardship waiver.
Yes Alice, Obama IS Pajama Boy, Chicken-Pajama Boy !
WASHINGTON DC – The Obama administration on Thursday night significantly relaxed the rules of the federal health-care law for millions of consumers whose individual insurance policies have been canceled, saying they can buy bare-bones plans or entirely avoid a requirement that most Americans have health coverage.

Breaking: #PajamaBoy ad campaign modified to reflect waiver of individual mandate. pic.twitter.com/SygoiqhTPD

— John Hayward (@Cobretata) December 20, 2013

The surprise announcement, days before the Dec. 23 deadline for people to choose plans that will begin Jan. 1, triggered an immediate backlash from the health insurance industry and raised fairness questions about a law intended to promote affordable and comprehensive coverage on a widespread basis.
The rule change was issued in a bulletin from the Department of Health and Human Services. It is the second major response by the Obama administration to a public and political furor that erupted in the fall when several million people who bought their own insurance began to receive notices that their policies were being canceled because they fell short of new benefit standards.
[…] The ability to get an exemption means that the administration is freeing these people from one of the central features of the law: a requirement that most Americans have health insurance as of Jan. 1 or risk a fine. The exemption gives them the choice of having no insurance or of buying skimpy “catastrophic” coverage. This means, in turn, that people who had old, meager insurance have greater freedom under the law than the many millions of uninsured Americans who now must obtain coverage.
[…] The administration’s move is a swift response to the dozen Democratic senators, who contended that steps the president had taken did not go far enough to help people whose insurance was canceled.
Six of those senators sent a letter on W to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, asking for her to allow people whose plans have been canceled to claim hardship exceptions and buy bare-bones catastrophic coverage. “We have heard from many of our constituents who are upset by the cancellation of the health plans,” said the letter, whose signers include both of Virginia’s senators, Mark R. Warner (D) and Timothy M. Kaine (D). (read more)