X_Torric_X
(?)Community Member
- Posted: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 21:05:09 +0000
Link
Quote:
The National Football League is used to big, bruising battles. But on Friday, it announced that it was likely staying out of one of the roughest fights in Washington: the war over Obamacare.
Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius disclosed that the Obama administration was in talks with the sports organization to help promote the law, which enters a new phase as advocates prepare to begin enrolling millions of Americans in health insurance this fall.
One year ago today the Supreme Court found the Affordable Care Act constitutional. The new health care exchanges begin enrollment in 3 months but Obamacare is still confusing for most of us.
On Friday, Republican leaders in the Senate issued a stern warning to sports organizations not to partner with the White House on an issue marked by such “divisiveness and persistent unpopularity.”
Asked about the congressional letter, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league had not made any commitment to the administration.
“We have responded to the letters we received from members of Congress to inform them we currently have no plans to engage in this area and have had no substantive contact with the administration about [the health-care law’s] implementation,” he said in an e-mail.
The NFL’s decision is the latest blow to the administration over the health-care law, which faces enormous hurdles as key portions go into effect in the coming months. Chief among the challenges is the political opposition to the law, which has persisted since its passage in 2010 despite hopes on the part of advocates that it would eventually be accepted as the law of the land.
Republicans so far have not been successful in repealing the law, though they have tried dozens of times. But they have managed to disrupt its implementation, and they are now mounting their own public relations campaign aimed at painting efforts to enroll people in health benefits under the law as politically charged.
About two dozen GOP-led states so far have declined the law’s expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor. Even more have refused to set up their own online marketplaces for other lower-income people to get federal subsidies to buy private insurance. Republicans in Congress have also rejected efforts to devote more money to the law’s implementation.
They have blasted Sebelius for soliciting donations on behalf of Enroll America, a large nonprofit organization with ties to the White House that is spearheading much of the ground-level work on enrollment. The controversy has given pause to some potential donors to Enroll America who are wary of wading into a politically charged fight.
With Friday’s letter, Republicans are now trying to discourage large mainstream organizations from encouraging people to sign up for insurance under the law. Beginning Jan. 1, almost all Americans will be required to have insurance or face a penalty.
“It is difficult to understand why an organization like yours would risk damaging its inclusive and apolitical brand by lending its name to its promotion,” Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and John Cornyn (R-Tex.) wrote in a letter to six major sports organizations, including the NFL and Major League Baseball.
Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius disclosed that the Obama administration was in talks with the sports organization to help promote the law, which enters a new phase as advocates prepare to begin enrolling millions of Americans in health insurance this fall.
One year ago today the Supreme Court found the Affordable Care Act constitutional. The new health care exchanges begin enrollment in 3 months but Obamacare is still confusing for most of us.
On Friday, Republican leaders in the Senate issued a stern warning to sports organizations not to partner with the White House on an issue marked by such “divisiveness and persistent unpopularity.”
Asked about the congressional letter, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league had not made any commitment to the administration.
“We have responded to the letters we received from members of Congress to inform them we currently have no plans to engage in this area and have had no substantive contact with the administration about [the health-care law’s] implementation,” he said in an e-mail.
The NFL’s decision is the latest blow to the administration over the health-care law, which faces enormous hurdles as key portions go into effect in the coming months. Chief among the challenges is the political opposition to the law, which has persisted since its passage in 2010 despite hopes on the part of advocates that it would eventually be accepted as the law of the land.
Republicans so far have not been successful in repealing the law, though they have tried dozens of times. But they have managed to disrupt its implementation, and they are now mounting their own public relations campaign aimed at painting efforts to enroll people in health benefits under the law as politically charged.
About two dozen GOP-led states so far have declined the law’s expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor. Even more have refused to set up their own online marketplaces for other lower-income people to get federal subsidies to buy private insurance. Republicans in Congress have also rejected efforts to devote more money to the law’s implementation.
They have blasted Sebelius for soliciting donations on behalf of Enroll America, a large nonprofit organization with ties to the White House that is spearheading much of the ground-level work on enrollment. The controversy has given pause to some potential donors to Enroll America who are wary of wading into a politically charged fight.
With Friday’s letter, Republicans are now trying to discourage large mainstream organizations from encouraging people to sign up for insurance under the law. Beginning Jan. 1, almost all Americans will be required to have insurance or face a penalty.
“It is difficult to understand why an organization like yours would risk damaging its inclusive and apolitical brand by lending its name to its promotion,” Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and John Cornyn (R-Tex.) wrote in a letter to six major sports organizations, including the NFL and Major League Baseball.