This week, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced yet another delay in ObamaCare implementation. This time the Administration is delaying enforcement of the individual mandate (i.e. not assessing the mandate penalty) on those who had health insurance plans canceled for failure to meet the minimum coverage requirements of the law. As Nicholas Bagley explains, there is more legal authority for this move than the prior delays. The statute provides for hardship exemptions from the mandate penalty, whereas there is no clear authority for either the employer mandate delay or the “if like it you can keep it” fix.
UPDATE: Avik Roy has more. As he notes: “this most recent announcement from the Obama Administration is the first time it has publicly admitted that Obamacare is making health insurance less affordable, not more so, for millions of Americans.”