The devil, is as always, in the details. [View all]

[MadHound]

Well, well, well. As the ACA slowly grinds to life, it is turning out that more and more major problems are being revealed. Never mind that the ACA gives the insurance industry a mandated monopoly, with regulations that are few and weak.

Now we're seeing all sorts of nasty little secrets come oozing out. Last week was the revelation that smokers could be paying thousands of dollars more in premiums. This week, we find out that there will be no federal financial assistance for those who can't afford family coverage offered by employers.

"The Obama administration adopted a strict definition of affordable health insurance on Wednesday that will deny federal financial assistance to millions of Americans with modest incomes who cannot afford family coverage offered by employers.

In deciding whether an employer’s health plan is affordable, the Internal Revenue Service said it would look at the cost of coverage only for an individual employee, not for a family. Family coverage might be prohibitively expensive, but federal subsidies would not be available to help buy insurance for children in the family.

The policy decision came in a final regulation interpreting ambiguous language in the 2010 health care law. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/us/politics/irs-to-base-insurance-affordability-on-single-coverage.html?ref=us&_r=0

Wonderful, so while a parent can get coverage for themselves, their kids have to go without? Just how fucked up is that?

Makes you wonder what else is going to come crawling out of the woodwork in the ensuing weeks and months.