Obamacare Grandfather Issue Roils Congress
Bipartisan push to alter Obamacare and allow more grandfathering. NYT: "...a vote is scheduled Friday in the Republican-controlled House on a bill that would allow Americans to keep their existing health coverage through 2014 without penalties ... [It] is opposed by the White House, which argues that it would severely undermine the Affordable Care Act by allowing insurance companies to continue to sell health coverage that does not meet the higher standard of Mr. Obama’s health care law ... A similar proposal ... is also drawing support in the Senate under an effort led by Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana ... Landrieu drew a distinction between her plan — which she said would maintain the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act — and those offered by Republicans ... [WH spox] Carney said he president’s top aides were working to come up with an administrative fix to the problem of the cancellation of health insurance plans. But he declined to say when that would be announced or whether it would come before [House] Democrats are asked to vote on Friday."
But not much consensus. Politico: "Democrats are even competing to offer the most attractive solution: Just a few days after Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) offered her bill to allow people to retain their canceled plans indefinitely, Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) on Wednesday introduced a bill allowing people to keep their current insurance for two years ... The dash to debug Obamacare among Senate Democrats is splintering the caucus, as the law’s most ardent champions rebuff efforts such the one by Landrieu. 'It’s not even a short-term fix,' said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, of the Landrieu proposal. 'It’s not the way to go. Let’s stick to what we’ve got.'"
"Obamacare Is Not in Nearly as Much Trouble As Ezra Klein Thinks" says Dean Baker: "...even if the [Landrieu] bill were to be passed into law, the number of policies protected would be limited ... more than two-thirds of the plans that people now hold in the individual market were not in effect at the start of the year, and therefore would not be protected by the Landrieu bill. This means that whatever skewing might result from its passage into law would be relatively limited and gradually go to zero as these people's circumstances changed (e.g. they get hired by companies with employer provided insurance)."
Early enrollment numbers don't mean much. TNR's Jonathan Cohn: "...846,852 people have used the site to complete applications [on behalf of] 1,509,883 people. The federal government has processed applications for the vast majority of them—98 percent, or 1,477,853 people. Of those, about a third have actually selected a health plan or been deemed eligible for a program like Medicaid. That’s 502,466 ... About four out of five (396,261) are in Medicaid. The rest (106,185) of them have picked private insurance plans ... But what matters isn’t the figures for October or even November. It’s December and the months that follow—particularly into next year, as the prospect of paying fines for uninsurance start to hit people in the face."
California enrollment leads the pack. National Journal: "California's surge in Obamacare enrollment in November could be the first sign for the federal government that higher participation in the new health insurance exchanges is on the horizon. The Health and Human Services Department reported Wednesday afternoon that between Oct. 1 and Nov. 2, California enrolled more than 35,000 individuals. The executive director of Covered California, Peter Lee, reported late Wednesday that as of Nov. 12, 60,000 Californians had signed up for insurance, increasing to a rate of almost 2,500 enrollees per day in November."
Boehner Throws Wrench Into Immigration Reform Efforts
Boehner seemingly rejects negotiations based on Senate immigration bill. W. Post: "'[Boehner said,] I’ll make clear that we have no intention of ever going to conference on the Senate bill.' ... The House is working on a series of piecemeal immigration bills, most of which deal with enforcement and other issues yet do not address what to do with most of the millions of people who are in the United States illegally ..."
Reid "stunned," reports The Hill: "'I'm stunned,' Reid said in an interview Wednesday with Fusion, a joint venture by ABC News and Univision. 'How could anybody in good conscience tell one group he's trying to do immigration reform, and a few minutes later, say "I'm not going to do anything about a conference?"'"
Economy Still Needs Stimulus, Says Yellen
Fed chief nominee Janet Yellen to back monetary stimulus at today's Senate confirmation hearing. NYT: "[Yellen] plans to tell senators at her confirmation hearing on Thursday that continuing the Fed’s enormous stimulus campaign is the best way to revive the economy and hasten the program’s end ... She noted inflation also had been running below the 2 percent annual pace the Fed regards as healthy ... 'We have made good progress, but we have farther to go to regain the ground lost in the crisis and the recession,' ..."
Budget talks stalled. Time: "...the sides are stuck: Democrats want to replace the across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester ... with a mix of targeted spending cuts and tax revenue generated through closing some tax deductions. Republicans believe that closing tax loopholes should take place in a broader tax reform discussion ... And some Republicans don’t even want to replace sequestration ... 'Sequestration is working,' said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). 'Compromising on sequester for more money on the military I think is short-sighted.'"
Breakfast Sides
Wikileaks reveals part of Trans-Pacific Partnership draft. Politico: "[Wikileaks] posted what it claims to be the intellectual property rights chapter ... Then, 151 fellow Democrats put Obama on notice that they could vote against trade promotion authority ... the document published by WikiLeaks was an Aug. 30 recap from the intellectual property discussions held during the 19th negotiating round in Brunei, which now could be out of date. Regardless, the document whipped up groups opposed to the pact, saying it confirmed many of their worst fears."
Supreme Court considers preventing management from effectively supporting unionization drives. NYT: "Several justices seemed receptive to the idea that such deals could run afoul of a federal labor law that bars employers from giving a 'thing of value' to unions. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. seemed skeptical of deals that include 'card check' arrangements, in which employers allow unions to collect cards from workers saying they want a union, rather than putting the question to a secret vote ... Other justices seemed wary of interpreting the federal law too literally. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said that a strict reading of the law would be 'contrary to years of settled practices and understandings.'"
