Monday, February 28, 2011

Step One in Health Care Reform

The Hill reports that the current President has told the states that they no longer must comply with a key provision of the Health Care Bill. The frankly why sign it in the first place? This just gets curiouser and curiouser, as per the Cheshire Cat!

However, beware the spider web. This may be a move enticing the states to "participate" and yet it may become just another bait and switch. As the NY Times stated:

(the current President) said he backed legislation that would enable states to request federal permission to withdraw from the law’s mandates in 2014 rather than in 2017 as long as they could prove that they could find other ways to cover as many people as the original law would and at the same cost. The earlier date is when many of the act’s central provisions take effect, including requirements that most individuals obtain health insurance and that employers of a certain size offer coverage to workers or pay a penalty. 

But what is inside the trap. If one waited until 2017 that would be during another Administration, not this one. By moving it forward they allow for preemption during a putative second term. This can clearly be a Trojan Horse offer, filled with what the Administration wants. The solution is complete removal.