Health reform implementation

Critics of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are seizing on the agency's forthcoming role in implementing ObamaCare to argue that the law will not be enforced fairly. Several leading Republicans, including former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), said Monday that the IRS should not be trusted to administer the law given the way it targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny starting in 2010.

"ObamaCare relies very heavily on the IRS," Gingrich said on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe." "Why would you trust the bureaucracy with your health if you can’t trust the bureaucracy with your politics?” 

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), a member of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Oversight, and RedState blogger Erick Erickson made similar points on Monday.

The IRS is charged undertaking with several major tasks under the Affordable Care Act, including distributing the law's tax subsidies to buy insurance and enforcing its individual mandate. Most of the agency's activity under healthcare reform is tightly controlled by law, and experts argue that its decisions will mostly be black and white.

Still, GOP strategists predicted that the ongoing scandal could cause a few more centrist Democrats to side with Republicans this week when the House votes to repeal ObamaCare. The vote will provide conservative freshman lawmakers with their first opportunity to officially oppose the healthcare law.
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If the federal healthcare overhaul rolls out like its predecessor in Massachusetts, employer-based health insurance might be safe.

Republicans argue that President Obama's healthcare law will erode employer-based coverage. Businesses will stop offering coverage to their workers and instead push employees into individual policies, critics predict.

But when Massachusetts implemented its healthcare law — highly similar to the Affordable Care Act — employer-based insurance actually increased, according to a new report from the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"Why would you trust the bureaucracy with your health if you can’t trust the bureaucracy with your politics," asked Gingrich.

The department defended Sebelius's efforts to raise money for Enroll America, an organization promoting the healthcare law.

The Tennessee Republican compared the HHS secretary's requests for donations from insurance companies to the Iran-Contra scandal.

The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee said he will investigate whether the HHS secretary's fundraising push is legal.

Nearly half of small businesses think President Obama's healthcare law will be bad for business, according to a new Gallup poll.

Forty-eight percent of the employers surveyed said they believe the healthcare law will hurt their businesses, compared with just 9 percent who said the law will be good for business.

President Obama addressed small businesses' concerns on Friday, saying employers have been led to believe ObamaCare is raising their premiums even though many of the law's key provisions haven't taken effect yet.

Obama says supporters "have an obligation" to make sure implementation moves forward.

Obama wades back into the healthcare debate

U.S. says it's on track to make health exchanges work

Obama's calorie display rules delayed by grocer blowback

Well, there's at least one Democrat who's still saying good things about ObamaCare: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.). Pelosi on Thursday said the healthcare law will be a "remarkable" thing once it's implemented, and that Democrats will be happy once it's in effect next year.

Pelosi's upbeat tone is a departure from recent Democratic hand-wringing over the law and its implementation. Many Democrats, notably Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), have fretted openly about whether the White House is properly handling the law's rollout, and say they're afraid the law will be  a drag on the party in 2014.

Pelosi, though, said the healthcare law will be a good thing.

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