About that ObamaCare Small Business Exchange…
This is coming down to “What did the President know and when did he know it?”
We all know by now that the “If you like your plan you can keep it. Period.” was a flat out lie by President Obama in his 2012 campaign. Senator Ron Johnson laid it out clearly.
When President Obama told Americans they could keep their current health insurance under Obamacare if they liked it, he did not “misspeak,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Saturday in the weekly Republican address.
Rather, Johnson said, the promise was “fully vetted, coldly calculated and carefully crafted to deceptively sell” the legislation “to a trusting public.”
It’s well documented that it was a well known fact that millions would lose their plans – and their doctors – as early as 2010.
The question now, as ObamaCare unravels, is what else did the administration know.
It turns out that, for starters, they knew the small business exchange was not going to meet the October 1 deadline at least four months before they bothered to mention it to the public.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Fred Upton, has unearthed emails that show the administration knew as early as July, and absolutely by August, the exchanges (SHOP) would not be ready any time this year.
Rather than being transparent with the American people, the insurance industry, and small business owners who were scrambling to figure out what benefits they could offer their employees, they waited until the day before Thanksgiving to announce that SHOP would be delayed until next year.
The emails reveal conversations among officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the contractor, CGI Federal, between July 26, 2013, and August 13, 2013. The administration agreed on August 13 that SHOP online would be delayed until November 15, but the administration did not announce any delay until September 26, less than a week before employers were expecting to begin going online to shop for health care coverage for their employees. At that time, the administration said, “The SHOP Marketplace for Federally-facilitated Marketplace states opens Oct. 1, 2013, when small employers can start the application process and get an overview of available plans and premiums in their area. All functions for SHOP will be available in November and if employers and employees enroll by Dec. 15, 2013, coverage will begin Jan. 1, 2014.
The emails show that the administration, including Henry Chao – the administration’s program manager for ObamaCare – who was copied and was a responder in the email chains, knew the program would not make any of the promised dates.
In addition, they show that officials at CMS, the lead contractor who got the job on a no-bid contract from the Obama administration, we testifying before Congress that they’d meet the promised dates. That testimony, if given under oath, was perjured, and it was perjured with the full knowledge of the senior management of CMS and senior officials in the administration including Henry Chao.
Please keep this little project in mind every time the President opens his mouth. This administration was founded on lies – Dreams From My Father – built on lies “You can keep your plan…” and is maintained on lies.
What did the President know?
Benghazi? Fast & Furious? IRS? The continued harassment of conservatives by the IRS? IRS harassment of ObamaCare opponents? The list just goes on and on.
Transparent? I think not. Criminal? Looks more and more like it.
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