The Washington Free Beacon’s Ellison Barber discussed the implications of the latest Obamacare delay Thursday on America's Newsroom, calling it "clearly political" and saying it generated more distrust of the administration.
The Obama administration announced a new delay for Americans enrolling in the health insurance exchange this week. The delay will supposedly only apply to those Americans currently in the process of signing up for Obamacare and comes just days ahead of the March 31 enrollment deadline. The administration has said they granted the delay because some Americans have experienced hardships, including a glitch ridden website, a botched rollout, and high insurance rates, in their attempts to sign up for Obamacare.
Delays are becoming a regular occurrence, which creates a huge amount of distrust by consumers towards the Obama administration, she added.
While the administration had hoped to mask the newest delay as an act of generosity, it reads more as a political move. The delays "are clearly political. This is not just for people who had a hardship," Barber said.
Insurance companies and insurers will be hit hard because of the delay.
"They set their premiums months in advance and they need a general consensus of the amount of sick people," she said. "It's a free-for-all because it hurts them across the board. No one knows what to expect. A week ago they were saying March 31 is going to stick, and it hasn't."