By Ron Brzoska
There is a lot of excitement and consternation over the insurance plan cancellations and lackluster enrollment numbers of Obamacare. The numbers are so bad that even democrats are turning on the president and channeling their inner Ted Cruz. Many of the Republicans that thought Cruz, Mike Lee, and others were being unreasonable are now calling for a delay in the individual mandate.  Democrats up for re-election had a special meeting with President Obama asking him what to do. ACA
Again, these republicans are missing the boat. They are too timid. While MILLIONS of Americans are clamoring for their old plans and rejecting Obamacare, these republicans are failing to listen. Instead of pushing for repeal and replace, they are only asking for a one year delay. What good is a delay? The Affordable Care Act would still be intact and enforced. They are asking for the real enrollment numbers. Who cares? What does that information get you besides a clever slide show?
These same republicans will now claim a victory with what President Obama did today. What did he do exactly? Well, he seemed to make people happy by saying you can keep your plan if you like it … for one more year… IF…
  • Your plan didn’t change, or…
  • Your plan was cancelled and your service provider offers it back to you, and…
  • Your service provider tells you what their plan is lacking in achievement of the Obamacare standards, and…
  • Your service provider tells you which government plan will cover you, and…
  • It may not matter anyway since regulation is left up to the states. (http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/14/news/economy/obamacare-insurance/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)
If you are paying attention, this means that the president did a lot of talking, but didn’t say much of anything. President Obama put the responsibility on the insurance companies to fulfill conditions he knows they do neither have the time, nor the resources, to comply with. An insurance company is not allowed to offer your old plan back to you unless they do your homework for you. Why should they do all of this extra work to keep you for only one more year? That’s just bad business. In what world is it sound for one company to provide the customer with competitor information for the sole purpose of driving you AWAY from their product? Even better for Obama, the insurance companies have no obligation to offer you your old plan. This again is designed to make the government the good guys. If you don’t get your old plan back, they can claim it is because of those evil insurance companies. We didn’t win anything today.
bhoBut even what I said above is missing the point. That is because the above doesn’t address the fact that no one, not even the president, has the kind of power to just arbitrarily change the laws to satisfy the mob. We still have a Constitution. Laws are created by the legislature and enforced by the executive branch. They are not wielded by one power. The ease in which President Obama does this and no one utters a peep should be so alarming that it gives us all pause.
What are we becoming, or should I ask: what have we become?