|
 Mark Iwry, senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Jack
Lew, told U.S. lawmakers the administration sees no reason for delay
given that the law allows for exemptions and provides financial
assistance for those unable to afford health coverage on their own.
He said the provision also underpins reforms that protect sick
people from discriminatory market practices.
"If we don't believe that it is appropriate to be delaying that
provision ... then we don't reach the question of whether we have
legal authority," Iwry said in testimony before the
Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee's Health
subcommittee.
The administration has delayed numerous segments of the 2010 law
known as Obamacare during four years of implementation and continues
to face speculation about possible new postponements for provisions,
including the individual mandate.
Iwry's testimony provided the most detailed evidence to date that
the administration was not moving toward delay.
Republicans have called repeatedly for a delay in the individual
mandate since last summer, when the White House gave employers extra
time to comply with a sister provision that requires midsize
businesses with at least 50 full-time workers to offer health
coverage to their employees or pay a penalty.
Administration officials have consistently rejected the idea of
postponing the individual penalty, describing the employer mandate
delay as a response to employers who said they needed more time to
meet the law's requirements.
Hoping to turn the topic into a campaign issue in November's
election battle for Congress, Republicans have pressed officials to
learn whether the administration could delay the provision under the
law, if it chose to do so. The individual mandate is one of the most
unpopular provisions of a law that is unpopular with large numbers
of voters.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires the
government to penalize individuals who violate the law. The
administration has delayed the enforcement of other provisions
required by the law, including one that bans insurance policies that
offer substandard benefits.
"The American people still have not been given an adequate answer
about questions of fairness. We understand the mandate on businesses
is costly and that is why you gave big business a break. But why is
it fair to not give the same break to individual Americans and their
families?" said Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the Health
panel's Republican chairman.
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Brady asked Iwry more than half a dozen times to clarify whether
the Treasury Department has analyzed the question of legal authority
or reached a decision on whether it can take action.
"That is a question that we don't reach because we do not believe
that we have any cause to," Iwry said.
The administration official said he would seek further guidance from
Treasury's legal staff and report back.
The exchange between Brady and Iwry puzzled the panel's senior
Democrat, Representative Jim McDermott of Washington.
"You decide, is there something we should do to make this thing
work, and then you look to see if you have authority to do that, is
that a fair shortcut to the answer?" McDermott asked the Treasury
official.
"Mr. McDermott, I'm in general agreement with the way you're
approaching this," Iwry replied.
Under the healthcare law, President Barack Obama's signature
domestic policy achievement, most Americans who do not enroll in
health coverage for this year will pay a penalty when they file
their 2014 income tax returns next year.
Iwry said a delay is unnecessary partly because the penalty phases
in over three years. It rises from the greater of $95 per adult or 1
percent of family income for 2014 to $695 per adult or 2.5 percent
of income for 2016.
(Reporting by David Morgan; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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