Just before the July 4 holiday, the Obama Administration announced that it had decided to delay enforcement of the PPACA’s employer mandate, despite the lack of clear legal authority for this move. I discussed some of the implications of this decision here. Last week, the CBO released its initial assessment of this decision. According to the CBO, delaying enforcement of the mandate will cost $12 billion in 2014 — both by reducing federal revenues and increasing federal spending — and result in 1 million fewer people having employer-based health insurance coverage.