He pushed Obamacare through Congress with the promise that it would help the 30 million uninsured Americans and not hurt the rest of us. Five years later, the government intrusion has disrupted the coverage of the more than 300 million Americans who were content with their insurance, and it is already dragging down the economy. Mr. Obama is trying to to hide the problems.
That’s why the White House announced Monday it would again push back the deadline for the mandate to kick in for companies with between 50 and 100 employees to 2016, which gets the negative economic impact to hit after the election.
This is just the latest in two dozen delays to Obamacare that the president has made — without consulting Congress.
On Tuesday, the president attempted to make the change to the employer mandate not seem like a political decision. In a joint press conference with President Francois Hollande of France, Mr. Obama said it was merely an “adjustment” to help midsize companies with compliance.
He said that “the purpose of the law is not to punish them,” but just force them to give health insurance to their employees.
If you are the owner of one of those companies who would be penalized (or taxed, as the Supreme Court calls it), it sure feels like punishment if you are struggling to pay for health insurance for your employees and keep your books balanced.
Mr. Obama took zero responsibility for the struggles that businesses are having in meeting the federal demands. He actually reached back 75 years to pin blame on President Franklin Roosevelt.
“We have a unique system compared to many parts of the world, including France,” the president told reporters. “Partly because of historical accident and some decisions that FDR made during wartime back in World War II, our health care has been much more tied to employers. That not the case in most other developed countries.”
A good follow-up question would have been: Mr. President, name one person who has traveled to France to get medical treatment, compared with the thousands around the world who flock to the United States for our top-notch doctors.
The government-run, European medical system that Mr. Obama seems to love makes medical care the equivalent of going to the DMV.
