Simone Lawson
Former US President Barack Obama has been accused of violating the US Constitution on several occasions during his tenure. These accusations include delaying Obamacare's out-of-pocket caps and employer mandate, exempting Congress from Obamacare, expanding the employer mandate penalty, and political profiling by the IRS. Obama has also been criticized for his use of executive power, including making recess appointments while the Senate was in session and signing a mandate requiring businesses to provide coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, which some saw as a direct blow to religious freedom. Additionally, Obama's actions have been perceived by some as a threat to the constitutional system, with concerns raised about his relationship with Congress and the scope of his executive actions.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Delay of Obamacare's out-of-pocket caps | Changing the law without legislation |
| Delay of Obamacare's employer mandate | Failure to comply with statutory authority |
| Exemption of Congress from Obamacare | Interpreting the law to maintain congressional benefits |
| Expansion of the employer mandate penalty through IRS regulation | N/A |
| Political profiling by the IRS | Targeting organizations engaged in political activities |
| Abuse of executive action | Acting against the wishes of Congress |
| Abuse of power | Muting religious freedoms |
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What You'll Learn
Delay of Obamacare's out-of-pocket caps
In 2013, the Obama administration delayed the enforcement of Obamacare's out-of-pocket caps for one more year, until 2015. This was not the first delay, as the administration had previously delayed Obamacare's Medicare cuts and the law's employer mandate. The delay of the out-of-pocket caps was met with criticism, with some arguing that it gave a break to big businesses while individuals and families remained stuck under the law's mandates. The delay also fuelled GOP efforts to discredit and defund the president's healthcare law.
The out-of-pocket caps were intended to limit how much people had to spend on their own insurance, with Section 2707(b) of the Public Health Service Act prohibiting group health plans and health insurance issuers from establishing lifetime limits on the dollar value of benefits for any participant or beneficiary. Annual limits on cost-sharing were specified by Section 1302(c) of the Affordable Care Act, with deductibles limited to $2,000 per year for individual plans and $4,000 for family plans starting in 2014.
The delay was attributed to the need for more time to comply with the regulations. An administration official stated that they had to balance the interests of consumers with the concerns of health plan sponsors and carriers, who requested additional time to update their computer systems to aggregate a person's out-of-pocket costs.
The delay had significant implications for colleges and universities offering inexpensive, defined-cap plans to their students. For example, premiums at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, rose from $245 per student in 2011-2012 to between $2,507 in 2012-2013. Other schools were forced to drop coverage due to increased costs.
The delay also impacted the availability of costly drugs, as manufacturers knew that government-run insurers would pay for them. This resulted in high prices that were excused by the subsidies provided.
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Delay of Obamacare's employer mandate
In 2013, the Obama administration announced a delay in the implementation of Obamacare's employer mandate. This mandate required companies with 50 or more full-time employees to provide them with health insurance or pay a fine. The delay meant that the mandate would not go into effect until 2015, instead of the originally planned date of January 1, 2014. This delay was met with criticism from Republicans in Congress, who argued that the administration did not have the authority to make such a change without congressional approval.
The delay in the employer mandate had several implications for the private health insurance market. Firstly, it was expected to drive up the cost of labor and increase unemployment. Secondly, more people might enroll in Obamacare's subsidized insurance exchanges, as employers could restructure their workforces to avoid providing health coverage. This could lead to an expansion of the individual insurance market and a shrinkage of the employer-sponsored market. Additionally, the delay caused concerns for businesses and taxpayers, as employers who took advantage of the delay could be on shaky legal grounds.
The Obama administration cited statutory authority for the delay, but the cited provisions only allowed for the postponement of certain reporting requirements. The Affordable Care Act clearly stated the effective date of the employer mandate as "months beginning after December 31, 2013." While the executive branch is responsible for enforcing the law, there are questions about whether the administration had the legal authority to delay it without congressional approval.
The delay in the employer mandate was one of several controversies surrounding the implementation of Obamacare. Other issues included the exemption of Congress from Obamacare, the expansion of the employer mandate penalty through IRS regulation, and delays in out-of-pocket caps. These actions by the Obama administration were seen by some as constitutional violations.
Overall, the delay in Obamacare's employer mandate had far-reaching implications for businesses, taxpayers, and the private health insurance market. It also raised questions about the legal authority of the executive branch to delay the enforcement of laws without congressional approval.
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IRS political profiling
In 2013, the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), under the Obama administration, revealed that it had selected political groups applying for tax-exempt status for intensive scrutiny based on their names or political themes. This incident became known as the "IRS targeting controversy" and led to widespread condemnation of the agency.
The controversy centred around the IRS's use of specific keywords to flag organisations for additional scrutiny. In August 2010, the IRS distributed a list suggesting intensive scrutiny of applicants with names related to certain political causes, including the Tea Party movement, "Patriots", "9/12 Project", and other conservative causes. The list also included terms such as "progressive", "occupy", "Israel", "open-source software", "medical marijuana", and "occupied territory advocacy".
The IRS applied closer scrutiny to applications from organisations that referenced these keywords, criticised the government, educated about the Constitution, or challenged Obamacare. This practice was not limited to conservative groups, as liberal-leaning organisations and the Occupy movement were also targeted for additional scrutiny, although at a lower rate.
The revelation of the IRS's targeting practices sparked multiple investigations, including a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) criminal probe ordered by Attorney General Eric Holder. An exhaustive report by the Treasury Department's Inspector General in 2017 found that from 2004 to 2013, the IRS used both conservative and liberal keywords to choose targets for further scrutiny, blunting claims that the issue was an Obama-era partisan scandal.
The IRS targeting controversy was one of several actions taken by the Obama administration that were criticised as violating the US Constitution. Other examples include delays in implementing certain provisions of Obamacare, exempting Congress from Obamacare, and expanding the employer mandate penalty through IRS regulation.
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Exempting Congress from Obamacare
One of the criticisms levelled at US President Barack Obama was that he took actions that were against the US Constitution. One such action was the "Exemption of Congress from Obamacare".
Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, required that members of Congress and their staff get insurance through the new healthcare exchanges, rather than through a taxpayer-funded program. However, in August 2013, President Obama directed the Office of Personnel Management to interpret the law in a way that maintained the generous congressional benefits. This was a delay in the employer mandate, which required employers of at least 50 people to provide complying insurance or pay a fine.
The House of Representatives had also been accused of exempting members of Congress from the provisions in the American Health Care Act (AHCA). However, this was debunked by FactCheck.org, which stated that there were two bills sent to the Senate: the AHCA, which would exempt Congress and their staff from state waiver provisions, and another bill that would strike that exemption. There was bipartisan agreement that healthcare laws should apply to members of Congress in the same way.
In May 2017, the House unanimously passed the McSally Bill, which amended the Public Health Service Act to eliminate the non-application of certain state waiver provisions to members of Congress and congressional staff. This was in response to concerns that Republicans were moving forward with a bill that had not been analysed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
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Expanding employer mandate penalties
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, imposes several new regulations on employers. One of the key provisions of the ACA is the employer mandate, which requires most employers with more than 50 full-time employees to provide their employees with a minimum level of healthcare insurance or pay a penalty to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The employer mandate was initially set to take effect in 2014, but the Obama administration announced in July 2013 that it would delay enforcement of the mandate until 2015. This delay was officially termed "transition relief" and was presented as a response to employer requests for more time to comply with the new regulations. However, it was also influenced by a mix of practical, political, and economic factors. The delay in enforcement was expected to result in an additional 1 million workers losing their employer-provided health coverage, with half of them gaining taxpayer-supported coverage and the other half becoming uninsured.
The Obama administration faced significant pressure from business groups and lobbyists regarding the employer mandate. Some businesses warned that they would be forced to lay off workers or cut their hours due to the increased costs associated with providing healthcare coverage. In response to this pressure, the administration considered options such as scaling back the penalties for non-compliance and allowing medium-sized businesses to avoid penalties.
Despite these delays and concerns, the employer mandate was a crucial component of the ACA's goal to expand and stabilize employer-sponsored healthcare coverage. The mandate was designed to incentivize employers to provide healthcare coverage for their full-time employees, potentially increasing the number of people with access to healthcare. However, it also had the unintended consequence of encouraging some employers to reduce their number of full-time employees or convert them to part-time status to avoid the additional costs.
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Frequently asked questions
There are several instances where President Obama's actions were seen as unconstitutional. For example, in 2013, he delayed Obamacare's out-of-pocket caps and employer mandate, which some argued required actual legislation.
Yes, Obama's pledge, "if you like your plan, you can keep it," backfired when insurance companies started cancelling plans that didn't comply with Obamacare. Obama then proclaimed that people could continue buying non-complying plans in 2014, despite Obamacare's explicit language. He also directed the Office of Personnel Management to interpret the law to maintain congressional benefits, exempting Congress from Obamacare.
Obama expanded the employer mandate penalty through IRS regulation, providing tax credits for plans from various exchanges, contrary to the law. He also engaged in political profiling by the IRS, targeting organizations with specific political leanings.
Obama was criticized for abusing his executive power, particularly in threatening to act against the wishes of Congress on immigration. He also made recess appointments when the Senate was in session, which the Supreme Court unanimously struck down as unconstitutional.
Obama signed a mandate requiring businesses to cover sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and birth control measures against their religious beliefs, which was seen as a direct blow to religious freedom.
