Don’t buy John Hood’s argument that “Obamacare is being repealed“? Perhaps you’ll be more inclined to accept that proposition after reading Brian Hughes’ Washington Examiner article about new comments from a former key member of the Obama administration’s team.
Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs predicted on Wednesday that the Obama administration would scrap the employer mandate, which has already been delayed twice.
“I don’t think the employer mandate will go into effect. It’s a small part of the law. I think it will be one of the first things to go,” Gibbs, President Obama’s former top spokesman, said at the Benefits Selling Expo in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Earlier this year, the administration delayed the employer mandate for a second time, giving companies with between 50 and 99 employees until 2016 to offer insurance coverage to their workers or pay a fine.
Critics say the administration granted the extension to limit blowback from a core element of the law that would kill jobs.
The White House counters that the employer mandate affects just a small fraction of people, given that most larger companies offer insurance coverage to their workers.
And administration officials have resisted calls to eliminate the employer mandate.
