Administration delays ObamaCare caps on out-of-pocket costs

Administration delays ObamaCare caps on out-of-pocket costs
By Lara Seligman - 08-13-13 07:51 AM ET

The Obama administration has delayed a key provision in President Obama's healthcare reform law that would limit out-of-pocket insurance costs for consumers until 2015.

The cap, which includes deductibles and co-payments, was supposed to limit consumer costs to $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. But administration officials have quietly delayed the requirement for some insurers, allowing them to set their own limits starting in 2014.

The delay has been outlined on the Labor Department's website since February, but went largely unnoticed.

The move is the latest setback in the administration’s efforts to implement ObamaCare, the president’s signature domestic achievement. Last month the administration decided to delay the law’s employer mandate which forces large businesses to provide healthcare coverage or pay penalties.

An administration official defended the move to delay the cost caps, telling the New York Times that insurance companies which used different computer systems and companies to administer coverage needed time to comply.

“We knew this was an important issue,” the official said. “We had to balance the interests of consumers with the concerns of health plan sponsors and carriers, which told us that their computer systems were not set up to aggregate all of a person’s out-of-pocket costs. They asked for more time to comply.”

The delay on cost caps is sure to fuel GOP efforts to discredit and defund the president’s healthcare law.

Before Congress left for its August recess, the Republican-controlled House voted for the 40th time to defund or repeal elements of ObamaCare, and Tea Party lawmakers have vowed to block any spending measures that fund that law, risking a government shutdown after Sept. 30.

Both supporters and opponents of the law have launched campaigns to sway public opinion as the administration prepares to begin enrolling consumers in its insurance exchanges on Oct. 1.

The delays underscore the challenges the Obama administration faces as it attempts to roll out the healthcare law. Polls continue to show that the overhaul is unpopular and misunderstood by the public.

The administration, though, insists the law’s implementation is on schedule.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said last month that the administration was “moving forward” and said Republicans had presented no viable alternative to Obama’s healthcare reforms.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), however, vowed “a lot more” votes to derail the law.

Republicans said the delay of the employer mandate highlighted that the law, as a whole, was unworkable.