, Columnist
Obama Breaks the Health Law to Save It
Why is the Obama administration taking such a careless attitude toward a law it spent a year crafting?
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The Barack Obama administration is sounding a bit more upbeat today on the state of the health insurance exchanges. At the same time, it's also clearly preparing a backup plan: allowing customers to buy policies directly from insurers.
Now, the law never forbade direct purchases; it says you can buy a policy off the exchange, as long as it's either grandfathered from 2010, or in compliance with the new requirements for minimum coverage. But you don't want to do this if your income qualifies you for a subsidy, because subsidies are only available for policies purchased on the exchanges.