ACA – The Individual Mandate Does Not Exist

what1

SOURCE: Benefitrevolution.com

“You can simply “believe” that Obamacare plans are too costly or experience any of another limitless form of hardship and get yourself out of the law.  So in reality, the 4 million Americans that are estimated to pay this fine should receive an “F” in creative writing and imagination. The individual mandate does not exist.  It is a mirage.”

Well, knock me over with a feather.  As predicted on the Armstrong and Getty show two years ago (On Armstrong & Getty on 3/13/14 Regarding The Latest Regulatory Pronouncements Completely Eviscerating the Individual Mandate), ObamaCare’s Individual Mandate is useless.  What did the bureaucrats think would happen after making up over 30 exemptions?  See Individual Mandate Exempt-A-Palooza Reaches 32 Ways You can Opt Out of Obamacare – 32 Flavors of Obamacare Exemption

This is from Sarah Ferris writing at The Hill last week:

Nearly three in four people who lacked health insurance last year were exempt from the penalty under ObamaCare, according to data from the tax-filing software TurboTax.

A total of 70 percent of people filed an exemption to ObamaCare’s individual mandate, about the same figure as last year, according to TurboTax.

The two most common exemptions were related to the cost of coverage. Many people without coverage said they couldn’t afford healthcare plans in their area or couldn’t afford plans through their workplace.

The other common exemptions were related to a recent eviction or the death of a family member.

The number of people seeking cost-related exemptions poses a challenge to the Obama administration, which has made affordability a central part of its strategy to reduce the uninsured.

But it also signals that more uninsured people may be learning about exemptions from the hefty penalty.

“The IRS reported that about 300,000 people who paid the penalty likely qualified for an exemption last year,” said Debra Hammer, TurboTax ACA spokeswoman. …

White House Now Admits, 1 in 4 Dumped Their ObamaCare Plans Last Year, The Old and Sick Remain …

This is from Investor’s Business Daily:

President Obama described ObamaCare as a great product. So why did one in four of those who signed up in 2015 cancel their plans?

An official report released last Friday said that enrollment in the ObamaCare exchanges fell to 8.8 million by the end of the year, from 11.7 million who’d initially signed up. That’s a 25% decline.

About 1.5 million who signed up never paid their first premium, so the number of actual enrollees dropped to 10.2 million by the end of March 2015. Then another 1.1 million canceled their coverage in the last six months of the year, according to an analysis by the Mercatus Center‘s Brian Blase. Half a million got booted off because they couldn’t verify citizenship or immigration status.

There’s been no solid research to why so many canceled their ObamaCare plans before the year was out, but it’s not hard to make educated guesses.

For many, ObamaCare just isn’t worth it, even for many of the 84% who get insurance subsidies. The plans typically feature sky-high deductibles. …

There’s also a built-in incentive to cancel plans before year is out because of ObamaCare’s 90-day grace period, which lets people getting subsidies keep coverage for three months if they stop paying premiums. …

Then there are those who’ve learned to game the system — buying insurance midyear when they have big health care expenses, and then dropping it once the bills are paid. …

See also: Obamacare Losing Enrollees: Exchange Enrollment Drops By Over 1.1 Million In Last Half Of 2015 by Brian Blase writing at Forbes and stating, in part, “the exchange risk pools contain a disproportionate number of older and less healthy people. Because of the ACA’s regulations and price controls, insurers needed to enroll a large number of younger and healthier people to offset losses incurred on older and sicker enrollees. In 2014 and 2015, insurers took steep losses—largely because the desired risk pool did not materialize. Younger and healthier people are making an economically rational decision and foregoing exchange coverage.”

New California Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy Regulations Effective 4/1/2016

Effective April 1, 2016, the new California regulations include a requirement to develop a harassment, discrimination and retaliation prevention policy (meeting detailed requirements), new record keeping requirements for supervisor harassment/abusive conduct prevention trainings, restrictions on employee driver’s license requirements, and a new mandatory employer notice of pregnancy disability rights.

Employer Obligations

All employers have a legal obligation to prevent sexual harassment.

  • Employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent discrimination and harassment from occurring.
  • Employers must help ensure a workplace free from sexual harassment by posting in the workplace a poster made available by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
    • Employers must help ensure a workplace free from sexual harassment by distributing to employees information on sexual harassment. An employer may either distribute a brochure that may be obtained from the Department of Fair Employment and Housing or develop an equivalent document, which must meet the following requirements:
    • ​The illegality of sexual harassment
    • The definition of sexual harassment under state and federal laws
    • A description of sexual harassment, utilizing examples
    • The internal complaint process of the employer available to the employee
    • The legal remedies and complaint process available through the Department and the Fair Employment and Housing Commission
    • Directions on how to contact the Department and the Fair Employment and Housing Commission
    • The protection against retaliation for opposing the practices prohibited by law or for filing a complaint with, or otherwise participating in investigative activities conducted by, the Department or the Commission
  • Employers with 50 or more employees must provide at least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees who are employed as of July 1, 2005, and to all new supervisory employees within six months of assuming a supervisory position. Thereafter, covered employers must provide sexual harassment training and education to each supervisory employee once every two years.

Training of all individuals in the workplace

All employees must now receive from their employers a copy of the DFEH pamphlet “Sexual Harassment is Forbidden by Law” (DFEH-185) or an equivalent document.

Employers with 50 or more employees must provide at least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees who are employed as of July 1, 2005, and to all new supervisory employees within six months of assuming a supervisory position. Thereafter, covered employers must provide sexual harassment training and education to each supervisory employee once every two years.