Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer called the newest Obamacare delay of the enrollment deadline “cynicism raised to the level of comedy,” explaining how an unending enrollment period would destroy the insurance industry as we know it.
Krauthammer spoke on a Fox News panel along with The Hill’s A.B. Stoddard and The Weekly Standard’s Steve Hayes. The pundits discussed the Obama administration’s pushback of the Obamacare enrollment deadline past March 31 for those unable to sign up in time — a delay some in Congress believe is indefinite (RELATED: ‘To infinity and beyond’: Bachmann says White House will delay Obamacare enrollment forever).
“This is no way to run a government,” Hayes began. “I don’t think anybody really thought that the assurances that we got from Kathleen Sebelius, from Jay Carney, from other senior members of the administration over the past six weeks that there would not be such an extension — nobody took those seriously, did they?”
Stoddard claimed that “they don’t want the Fat Lady to sing. They don’t want the enrollment population data to be released. If there’s truly a stampede at the last minute and they have to accommodate this surge of new people signing up, that would be great.”
“If those numbers don’t turn out with more than 2 million young and less-risky consumers in the exchanges,” she continued, “those prices — and everybody knows it — are going to be raised.”
Krauthammer noted that — despite earlier administration assurances that they had no statutory authority to go beyond the deadline — “statutory authority is not required under this presidency to change a statute.”
“It’s sort of comical,” he said. “This is one of the longest laws in American history — thousands of pages — and you never hear anybody referring to Section 706(b), or whatever. Because what’s written in the law — for all those words, none of them really matter, because they get changed arbitrarily after the law is passed.”
“Look, this is cynicism raised to the level of comedy,” he asserted. “They were lying when they said it wouldn’t change, the deadline wouldn’t change. Everybone knew they were lying, and now no one is surprised that they’re lying. And nobody really cares about it, apparently.”
The columnist also explained why a set deadline for enrollment is so crucial to Obamacare’s success. “If you have a system where you don’t disqualify people that have preexisting conditions,” he explained, “unless you have a fixed enrollment period nobody will ever sign up for insurance or pay a premium when they’re healthy.”
“They’ll wait until they get a cancer diagnosis or fall down the stairs, and at the bottom of the stairs pick up the phone and enroll for their insurance,” he continued. “Which of course will send all the companies into bankruptcy.”
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.