Big of him. And the rest of the Democratic party. And by ‘big of him’ I mean… something unprintable.

The Obama administration will not require the millions of Americans who received health-insurance plan cancellation notices to purchase a new policy next year.

They’re granting those consumers an exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, a Department of Heath and Human Services spokeswoman confirmed. The mandate requires everyone to have health insurance or face a tax penalty, the greater of $95 or 1 percent of income in 2014.

The administration will also allow those consumers to sign up for catastrophic coverage. Those bare-bones plans are available to people who are under 30 or qualify for a “hardship exemption.”

First, do no harm. It’s amazing how many bad policies could be averted if our politicians simply understood that statement, in their bones.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: We now know why the administration claims that no ‘more’ than 500K people with cancelled plans don’t have insurance at this point, I guess. As in, the administration is guessing that all the rest will take catastrophic plans, the better to handle the catastrophe that Barack Obama, Obamacare, and the Democratic party has made of the victims’ lives.

PPS: IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED, DEMOCRATS? Canceled policies, poorer coverage, unhappy people at Christmas? Was this the goal? – Because if it wasn’t, then the Democratic party has mucked up things for fair. And if it was… then I’d love to know what the United States of America ever did to the Democratic party, to merit this kind of revenge.

PPPS: Is it even legal?  As long as Harry Reid is Senate Majority Leader, that question is irrelevant.

PPPPS: The President explains.

[youtube]ejvyDn1TPr8[/youtube]