• 
  
• The statutory language of section 36B and other provisions of the Affordable Care Act support the interpretation that credits are available to taxpayers who obtain coverage through a State Exchange, regional Exchange, subsidiary Exchange, and the Federally-facilitated Exchange. Moreover, the relevant legislative history does not demonstrate that Congress intended to limit the premium tax credit to State Exchanges. Accordingly, the final regulations maintain the rule in the proposed regulations because it is consistent with the language, purpose, and structure of section 36B and the Affordable Care Act as a whole.

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http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/apr/25/mcmorris-rodgers-says-aca-likely-to-stay/

McMorris Rodgers says ACA likely to stay
Campaign talks cover health act...

With the news this week that more than 600,000 Washington residents have acquired new health care plans through the state exchange, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said it’s unlikely the Affordable Care Act will be repealed.

“We need to look at reforming the exchanges,” the Eastern Washington Republican said Thursday.

The five-term congresswoman and chair of the House Republican Conference kicked off her re-election campaign this week with visits to Walla Walla, Colville and Spokane. She faces Democratic challenger Joe Pakootas.

McMorris Rodgers has been part of the Republican leadership in the House that has voted multiple times to repeal parts or all of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. GOP members have said the law is unworkable, will increase costs for some and force others into inadequate coverage or plans they don’t want.

McMorris Rodgers continued those criticisms Thursday, but said the framework established by the law likely will persist and reforms should take place within its structure.

“It is a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to health care,” she said. Consumers should have more choice for their coverage, and Democrats should abandon the idea that everyone will enroll because of the mandate, McMorris Rodgers added.

The congresswoman also said that the 85 percent of enrollees who received Medicaid coverage is a sign the program is not sustainable and many will receive subpar care.

“You’re seeing where they’ve had to reduce programs for the very people it’s meant to help,” McMorris Rodgers said. “Somebody’s going to have to pay the bill.”.....

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http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/04/28/Obamacare-s-Backend-Still-Missing-Deadline-Uncertain

OBAMACARE'S BACKEND STILL MISSING, DEADLINE UNCERTAIN

Healthcare.gov was supposed to do more than just sign people up for insurance. It was also supposed to manage subsidy payments to insurers on the back-end of the site. But with the first enrollment period closed, that part of the site is still months from being ready.

Kyle Cheney at Politico reports that deadline for the completion of the back-end continues to slip. He contacted HHS for an update on when they expect it to be ready, but they "refused" to give him an answer.
Last December, HHS Secretary Sebelius told Members of Congress that the back-end was "due to go into effect in mid-January." But by that point, HHS was not only not done with the back-end, it was announcing a rush $91 million contract to find someone new to get the job done by mid-March.

The contracting document stated, "If this functionality is not complete by mid-March 2014, the Government could make erroneous payments to providers and insurers." The document goes on to list four categories of financial error that could result. These included:

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• "erroneous estimates of budgeted and projected payments,"
  
• "inaccurate issuance of payments to health plans,"
  
• "inaccurate forecasting of Risk Adjustment, Reinsurance, and Risk Corridor," and
  
• "failing to support the end of the year reconciliation with IRS."

The new contractor, Accenture, was not able to complete the back-end by March. In fact, the government is still relying on an "interim" accounting process which Politico describes as "pretty much a spreadsheet and some informed estimates." That process is expected to be in place until September.

One result of not having the back-end built is that the administration continues to be unable to say how many people have actually enrolled with any precision. Since October, the administration has been reporting the number of people who signed up, i.e. who selected a plan on the website. This culminated recently in the announcement of more than 8 million sign ups during the total enrollment period. Reporters frequently asked for the total number who had enrolled, i.e. those who had paid a premium, but the administration said it did not have that information because the back-end of the site was not built.

There is evidence that insurers are delivering monthly enrollment numbers back to HHS. These figures would then be plugged into the spreadsheets to tally the amount of subsidies the government owes to each insurer. However, it's likely that these figures will be imprecise, meaning that at some point a final reconciliation will need to take place to balance the books. Politico quotes health industry expert Bob Laszewski saying, "We have the mother of all reconciliations coming."