Republicans Quietly Make an Important Fix To Obamacare That Democrats Wanted

[progree]

15. 4 clicks later ... the details

# the Equitable Access to Care and Health (EACH) Act, H.R. 1814.
The legislation would create a new exemption under ObamaCare that lets people avoid buying health insurance if they have a religious reason for doing so. The bill would require these people to file an affidavit as part of their tax returns saying their beliefs keep them from buying insurance that meets federal standards.

# Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act, H.R. 3979. This bill would ensure that volunteer emergency responders are not required to be offered health insurance under the law.

# Hire More Heroes Act, H.R. 3474. It would create an incentive for companies to hire veterans, since veteran workers already covered by the federal veterans health program would not have to be counted as a full-time employee for the purposes of ObamaCare. That exemption could help companies avoid the employer mandate, or the requirement to offer health plans once they have 50 or more employees.

Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/200316-gop-hoping-dems-help-expand-obamacare-exemptions (3/10/14)

Actually I'm not so thrilled about the first one, the religious exemption. On the face of it, it sounds like potentially an excuse almost anybody can use to opt out of the individual mandate. If the individual mandate is effectively eroded or abolished, will enough of the young and healthy sign up to keep premiums from going up into a death spiral? (Supposedly that's why we have the individual mandate in the first place). I'd have to see the details on that particular one before I cheer too loudly.

I love the names of the bills, though!