When your own stick turns out to be a boomerang, or what happens when you step on your own rake !
The latest revelations in the ObamaCare debacle revolve around Obama architect Jonathan Gruber.
You might remember back in 2010 during the fight over ObamaCare mandates ‘we the people’ were told the mandate was a penalty and not a tax. However, when ObamaCare challenges ultimately reached the courtroom the administration argument was exactly the opposite. The government argued the mandate was a tax not a penalty; only as a tax could the construct survive legal scrutiny. This latest Gruber development similarly pretzellian but infinite degrees worse.
The construct of ObamaCare execution relied upon a network of state exchanges to enroll people in the plans. The problem for the administration was the volume of political opposition to the entire plan itself. Consequently the Obama administration had to set up a “stick” or punitive punishment if any state failed to comply with setting up the exchange.
The stick they settled upon was a simple premise – financial blackmail. Any state who did not construct an exchange for their state citizens to enroll in ObamaCare would face a punishment of not being allowed to receive a federal subsidy for their premium. In essence the goal was to force states to set up exchanges. To force compliance the carrot was the federal premium subsidy, the stick was financial punishment if they didn’t. (more…)









