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[T]he MLR caps will also limit innovation. Right now, expenses that are on a pre-approved, government list of “activities that improve health care quality” are not included in the cost of administration and so don’t count against the 20 percent cap on what plans get to spend on overhead. If a health plan comes up with a new business approach that it believes improves quality and outcomes, it will be forced to count the costs against its allowable profits. It can’t incorporate the cost into the total money it spends on healthcare if the new scheme isn’t on the government list.”

“As anyone who’s ever worked on a project with an important deadline knows, when someone starts insisting that everything will come in on time, really, trust me, it’s usually because the work isn’t going as planned—especially on project that’s been rife with shoddy management and missed deadlines. The real message of the HHS video is that the agency desperately wants people to think it is on schedule and can make the law work. And it understands that as it stands, its work, and the weight of the available evidence, suggests otherwise.”

“In New York state, 7.6% plan to fire or refrain from hiring in order to stay under the mandate, and 6.5% plan to shift from full time to part-time workers. In Philly the answers are 5.6% and 8.3%, respectively. Many also planned to outsource work. [Respondents were allowed to select more than one option.] Whether companies carry out these strategies will depend greatly on the level of demand in coming years. But the shift to part-time workers would carry on a trend started in the last recession that has been slow to reverse in this recovery.”

“Despite a temporary reprieve from some of the new rules under the health care law, business owners are growing increasing anxious about its looming implementation at the end of the year, according to a pair of recent surveys. “

“House lawmakers on Wednesday voted to approve two separate bills amending portions of the Affordable Care Act, the latest moves by the GOP to try to throw up hurdles to the Obama health law. The first bill would codify the year-long delay to the obligation on companies to provide health care coverage to their workers from next year. The second would delay a similar obligation on individuals to purchase health-care insurance.”

“An unprecedented 35 Democrats bucked the president by voting to delay Obamacare’s ’employer mandate,’ while 22 Democrats voted to delay its ‘individual mandate’ for one year. Obamacare opponents now have an opportunity to widen the fissures among its supporters.”

“On July 12, James Hoffa of the Teamsters (1.4 million members), Joseph Hansen of the Food and Commercial Workers (1.3 million members) and D. Taylor of UNITE-HERE (200,000 members, mostly culinary and hotel workers) wrote to complain about the president’s Affordable Care Act. These union heads charged that unless Mr. Obama enacts ‘an equitable fix,’ the Affordable Care Act ‘will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40-hour work week.'”

“You’ve already heard that the White House let employers off the hook for a year on their Obamacare duties. They won’t have to offer coverage or pay a penalty in 2014. But if you don’t have insurance you will still have to get it by next year or pay a fine, in most cases, under the law. Republicans are pushing the White House to stall enforcement of the individual insurance mandate, just as the White House did for business. Don’t force people to buy it. Don’t fine scofflaws.”

“This week’s stunning delay in the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer mandate was hardly the first time that ObamaCare’s implementation effort has stumbled, as the president’s signature domestic policy initiative has suffered several self-inflicted wounds on the path toward full implementation.”

“Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee are raising doubts about the ObamaCare data hub designed to power real-time eligibility determinations for the new insurance exchanges. On Friday, 16 GOP lawmakers asked Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for a briefing on how the hub will protect sensitive information and when it will be complete.”