The silver lining?
Excerpt: Obama said the administration will insist that insurance companies continuing to sell individual health policies that do not comply with the new standards inform consumers about “what protections these renewed plans don’t include” and alert their customers to potentially better and more affordable insurance available through the new federal and state marketplaces."
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"Obamacare Cock-Up: How To Make The Rotten Egg Pure Gold"
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WEIGEL: If you like your panic, you can keep your panic. "Watching Congress panic and scramble for a way to restore individual insurance plans shredded by Obamacare is like watching otherwise intelligent people try to mend a broken sink with a flamethrower. The current mania, which will peak when White House spinners hold lunch today with Senate Democrats, consists of legislators trying to grandfather in some of the millions of plans that have been canceled. If they asked insurers, they'd quickly figure out why, for most people, that won't work." David Weigel in Slate.
THE WASHINGTON POST: A troubling 'fix.' "Mr. Obama's big announcement Thursday, though, was a "fix" to the Affordable Care Act meant to redeem his promise that "if you like your health-care plan, you can keep it." Unfortunately, it was his promise that was wrong, not the design of the law. At best, his proposed fix will have little impact except to let him shift the blame; at worst, it will undermine reform" The Washington Post Editorial Board.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Trust the Democrats to know when to run. "If only the new "administrative fix" he announced on Thursday did more to help the consumers who are losing their coverage than it does to help Democrats protect their political future...The insurers are essentially being asked to agree to accept losses on behalf of a rump group of policy holders in a legacy business that would then turn into a pumpkin in 2015...His faux reprieve will now let Democrats shift the blame for cancellations to insurance companies, though all they have been doing is following the Administration's orders." The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board.
THE NEW YORK TIMES: What a mess. "If a relatively small population of people get extensions, as some experts think likely, the effect on premiums in the overall health insurance market may be minimal. Even so, this disturbing reversal is caused by the incompetence of the administration in ushering in reforms that millions have been waiting for." The New York Times Editorial Board.
BLOOMBERG VIEW: Dumb and dumber. "President Barack Obama is trying to make up for an exceedingly dumb promise with a moderately dumb compromise. For many people who have lost their old insurance policies, his offer may be no help at all...The trouble with that compromise is that while Obama's earlier argument may have been tone-deaf, it was also accurate. If it was bad policy a month ago to let insurers skimp on some essential benefits, such as maternity care or mental health care, it's still bad policy today. If it was bad policy then to let insurers keep healthy young people away from exchange-based risk pools by selling them low-cost, low-coverage plans, it's still true now." Bloomberg View Editorial Board.
PONNURU: The latest Obamacare fix only makes things worse. "f state regulators allow the plans to be reissued and insurers agree to go along, one of the law's chief problems will get worse. Experts on both sides of the debate have long understood that the program was vulnerable to "adverse selection."...[T]he Affordable Care Act also reduces the incentive for healthy people to buy insurance. It lets people who get sick buy insurance on the same terms as healthy people; they just have to wait for an open-enrollment period. If the healthy opt out, the pool will consist disproportionately of the sick, and premiums will be high. That means those who don't qualify for Obamacare's subsidies will be even less likely to buy insurance, and the subsidies for those who do will be larger." Ramesh Ponnuru in Bloomberg
DRUM: No fix will get through Congress. "Republicans are interested only in Obamacare's failure and will refuse to support any Democratic bill that genuinely addresses the problem. Conversely, Democrats are interested only in improving Obamacare and relieving the political pressure they're feeling. They will refuse to support any Republican bill that contains an obvious poison pill. Unless I'm missing something, the intersection of these two positions is the null set. Thus, there is no bill that can pass Congress." Kevin Drum in Mother Jones.
DRUM: No fix will get through Congress. "Republicans are interested only in Obamacare's failure and will refuse to support any Democratic bill that genuinely addresses the problem. Conversely, Democrats are interested only in improving Obamacare and relieving the political pressure they're feeling. They will refuse to support any Republican bill that contains an obvious poison pill. Unless I'm missing something, the intersection of these two positions is the null set. Thus, there is no bill that can pass Congress." Kevin Drum in Mother Jones.
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