Based on the White House’s past lawlessness and corruption in the service of Obamacare, I’m willing to venture the following prediction:
The Obama administration will announce in August, probably in a classic Friday news dump, that (1) it will offer Exchange subsidies to workers enrolled in multiemployer union plans, and (2) it will pay the FEHBP contribution toward the Exchange premiums for members of Congress and their staffs.
Here’s what makes this prediction interesting: neither of those things would be legal. So, for the record, I really hope this prediction does not come true.
The last time I made a prediction was this one from December 2012:
HHS maintains they’ll have these [Exchange] things up and running by October 2013. I don’t know anyone who is confident about that and I’m ready to predict that they will not.
That prediction proved true when the Obama administration announced the eligibility verification system for Exchange subsidies would not be ready on time, and took the not-legal step of delaying enforcement of the eligibility rules for a year.