Cross-posted from the archived Media Trackers Ohio site.
Five Ohio groups have been granted a total of more than $3 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to help Ohioans enroll in federally-approved, federally-subsidized health insurance plans, HHS announced on August 15.
As the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported last month, the largest grantee by far is the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, which anticipates nearly $2 million in taxpayer money. What the Plain Dealer failed to note is that the new health insurance exchanges and the “navigators” to facilitate them are all part of President Obama’s unpopular 2010 health law.
More importantly, the press and other Obamacare advocates ignore the fact that no subsidies can legally be issued through the federally-run Obamacare exchange scheduled to begin enrolling Ohioans on October 1.
“An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule purports to extend these tax credits and subsidies to the purchase of health insurance in federal exchanges created in states without exchanges of their own. This rule lacks statutory authority,” Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute and Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University explained in a July 2012 paper.
“The text, structure, and history of the Act show that tax credits and subsidies are not available in federally run exchanges. The IRS rule is contrary to congressional intent and cannot be justified on other legal grounds.”
Even assuming Ohio reporters are incapable of finding academic studies — a fair assumption, given legacy media coverage of the Obamacare Medicaid expansion — Adler and Cannon have made this case in both USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.
Legality aside, the tone of reporting from the Plain Dealer and elsewhere has resembled the giddy excitement of Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN) Ohio.
“Ohioans will have more choices and greater control over their health insurance options,” UHCAN Ohio Executive Director Cathy Levine wrote in an October 2012 announcement on the approach of Obamacare’s exchanges. “That’s a big reason to celebrate! However, many Ohioans will need help finding health insurance that meets their needs.”
A key partner in Governor John Kasich’s push for the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, UHCAN Ohio demonstrates unflinching faith in bureaucracy and the detachment from reality such faith entails.
Fearing it would impede progress toward socialized medicine, Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage, a UHCAN Ohio campaign backed by labor unions and other left-wing groups, opposed a law requiring Obamacare navigators to pass a background check and obtain certification with the Ohio Department of Insurance.
Plaintiffs in Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, and Kansas have already filed suit against HHS and the IRS, demanding summary judgment to block the IRS rule unilaterally granting the federal government the right to issue Obamacare subsidies in Ohio and the other 26 states without state-run exchanges.
Additionally, legislation introduced by State Rep. Ron Young (R-Leroy Twp.) and State Rep. Andy Thompson (R-Marietta) this March would explicitly bar insurers in Ohio from accepting Obamacare subsidies.
The proposal, House Bill 91, has 19 cosponsors but remains in the Ohio House Health and Aging Committee.