BRET BAIER: These changes are happening. We have the employer mandate pushed back. We have a letter from Senator Hatch that says why is the administrator asking for 107% for the federal subsidies before anybody has been paid $1.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Because the entire enterprise was a gigantic bait and switch. The administration tried every gimmick in the book so that the president could say Obamacare won't cost the Treasury a dime. He said it again and again. And anybody over the age of 9 would understand if you are going to give health insurance to 30 million new Americans, of course it's going to increase the cost. It's a law of nature. But they pretended with all the gimmicks and all these postponements and suspensions are now the parts of the bill that are either going to raise revenue or control cost.
The employer mandate was a way to get the fines or the insurance provided by the employer. So that is out of the way; it's going to increase the cost. Well, it was postponed now, which was a way to know if somebody is cheating in getting a subsidy in the exchange is out the window. It's going to be enormous amounts of abuse.
And the idea of enrolling young people, there is no incentive if you are a 20-year-old to spend a fortune on a plan with all kinds of bells and whistles when you pay a fine and it's cost effective. So what we're going to end up with is a bill that's going to be implemented because they hook people on the exchanges and the subsidies, with all the fraud and abuse. And once people are getting that, we're going to have to raise taxes hugely as a way to cover it as it is done in Canada and in Britain. (Special Report, July 8, 2013)
