“Democrats are scared Obamacare will cost them in 2014 midterms. Obama should “delay the whole thing permanently.”
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told PJ Media that rather than delay the employer mandate in the healthcare law, President Obama should “delay the whole thing permanently.”
Compared to businesses, Giuliani said “private individuals” are going to have a more difficult time coping with the law’s rules and regulations.
“I think he should delay the whole thing permanently. I think it is very strong evidence that the whole bill is flawed. After all, this bill was passed several years ago, right. If you have to delay it in order to implement it, there’s something fundamentally wrong with it,” Giuliani told PJ Media on Capitol Hill.
“I mean, he should also delay the sanctions for individuals. Why are only businesses – in fact, businesses can prepare themselves better than private individuals can so necessarily he should also delay the sanctions for private individuals which means he should delay the whole thing.”
The healthcare law requires businesses with more than 50 full-time employees to provide health insurance for all of their workers or face a penalty of $2,000 per employee.
According to the law, those working over 30 hours per work are considered full-time.
Companies like Darden Restaurants have announced that they are cutting workers’ hours to avoid the added costs of insuring every worker. Some colleges and universities have said they cannot afford to cover every employee, as the law requires, so they have to reduce adjunct faculty members’ hours.
“As you probably know, the Affordable Care Act has redefined full-time employees as those working 30 hours or more per week,” said Community College of Allegheny County President Alex Johnson in an email announcement.
“As a result, the college must adjust hours of some temporary part-time employees and adjuncts to comply with the new legislation’s conception of part-time employment.”
The law also requires every American to purchase health insurance or pay a fine to the IRS.
“I mean, the whole thing was a mistake in the first place. It was a big disaster. It cost the Democrats the elections in 2010. I think they are very frightened it’s going to cost them the elections in 2014 because the bill is totally flawed,” Giuliani told PJ Media.
“When an administration has to hold off a bill like this, it indicates there’s something fundamentally wrong with it.”
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said delaying the mandate until 2015 gives businesses “flexibility” to prepare for the full implementation of the law.
“This was the law. How can they change the law?” said Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, according to The New York Times.
Carney was asked on Wednesday for his response to Harkin suggesting that Obama lacks the authority to halt provisions of the law.
“The fact of the matter is this is not unusual, and it is done — it is — it is evidence of the kind of flexibility and deference to the concerns and interests of, in this case, a small percentage of American businesses with more than 50 employees that you would think Republicans would support, because you know and I know that their concern is not that we delayed the implementation of an aspect of this law, one provision of it; it’s that they want to try everything they can to undermine the implementation of this law,” Carney said.
“People who suggest that there’s anything unusual about the delaying of a deadline in the implementation of a complex and comprehensive law are, you know, deliberately sticking their heads in the sand or are just willfully ignorant about past precedent. It’s just not — it’s not serious.”
Source: PJ Media