In the wake of the Obama administration’s decision to delay by a year the health care law’s requirement that larger employers provide acceptable health insurance or pay a penalty, a number of conservative commentators have suggested that Republicans should push for a repeal of the individual mandate as well. Interestingly, President Obama may be able to do that in 2014 without much of a practical effect on the implementation of the law.
Over at the Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol makes the case for the GOP to call for a delay of the individual mandate, which remains one of the most unpopular provisions of Obamacare. The populist critique here is pretty clear. Under intense lobbying from big businesses, the Obama administration caved by delaying the employer mandate until 2015. But the individual mandate, which hits average Americans and happens to be supported by insurance industry lobbyists, is still on track to be implemented in 2014.
