As billions chase billions trying to fix failed state exchanges, the Obama administration quietly and on no legal basis unshackled the 4.5 million residents of the five U.S. territories from Obamacare. The Ukraine/Malaysia downed flight and the Israel/Gaza conflict offered excellent cover for another slap by the Obama administration to the Constitution and to the rule of law. As the WSJ notes here, “Last week’s burst of world disorder was ideal for a news dump, and the White House didn’t disappoint.”
Phil Kerpen, on The Federalist blog, calculates that seven states have spent $1.2 billion on faulty and abandoned O’Care sites. It is becoming increasingly clear that the program is not only a giant black financial hole for states, but also a nightmare for enrollees.
The Washington Times asks, “How much will taxpayers have to pay in higher premiums and endless hassle before the White House recognizes its error?”
Despite receiving $304 million in federal grants to construct the nation’s first state portal to the Obamacare program, Oregon residents could never complete their applications on the Oregon state Obamacare exchange website and were forced to use a time-consuming mix of paper forms and online documentation to receive Obamacare. The state realized this was an absurd setup and abandoned ship in favor of the federal website. Nevada also scrapped its malfunctioning $90 million website. Maryland paid $90 million to build an exchange, and discovering it was useless, abandoned it to start over from scratch. After spending its initial allotment of $170 million to constructs its Obamacare exchange, Massachusetts says it needs an additional $121 million to fix it. Hawaii’s Obamacare website cost more than $200 million, or $24,947 per Obamacare enrollee.
If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor? Where does the rest of America sign up for a presidential dispensation?
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