Lawyers May Challenge Obamacare Unilateral Rewrites

albanytribune ^ | September 12, 2013 | By Jim Kouri --

An “Inside the Beltway” group of public-interest attorneys stated this week that they are exploring a legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s rewriting of Obamacare, a/k/a the Affordable Care Act.
According to Judicial Watch, President Obama has unilaterally rewritten the law — without congressional approval — to delay the so-called “employer mandate,” which was scheduled to go in effect on Jan. 1, 2014, for at least a year. The employer mandate stipulates that companies with over 50 full-time employees must provide healthcare plans for their workers that comply with Obamacare standards.
If they do not, they will be forced to pay a penalty “tax” for each employee not receiving an Obama-approved healthcare plan. The temporary waiver allows companies to save millions of dollars.
However, Judicial Watch notes that the President did not rewrite the Affordable Care Act so that Americans would be eligible for a delay in the implementation of the “individual mandate,” which requires nearly all Americans to have Obama-approved health insurance by that same date or pay a tax penalty.
“Many Americans are caught in the middle. They are obligated to have Obama-approved health insurance, but their employers are not obligated to provide it, at least for another year. As a result, these Americans will be forced to purchase Obama-approved health insurance at an Obamacare-created health insurance exchange or pay the tax penalty. Either way, they’re out-of-pocket,” stated officials at Judicial Watch.
In it’s press statement on Monday, Judicial Watch noted: If you are going to have to purchase Obama-approved health insurance through an Obamacare-created health insurance exchange or pay a tax penalty because your employer, which would have been covered by the employer mandate, is dropping or does not provide health insurance, you may have a claim to challenge President Obama’s unilateral rewriting of the law.
“We obviously object to the employer mandate, the individual mandate, and the entire Obamacare law, but we understand that, under the U.S. Constitution, the law can only be changed by legislation passed by Congress and signed by the president. President Obama evidently wants to delay at least some of the ill effects of his health care scheme until after the 2014 congressional elections. But politics do not trump the Constitution or the rule of law,” according to Judicial Watch.
If you believe your circumstances are fit Judicial Watch’s criteria for legal action, and would be interested in being “a plaintiff in a challenge to Obama’s unconstitutional power grab,” then contact Judicial Watch by using this special email address:obamacarechallenge@judicialwatch.org.