The original House and Senate bills that became
the Affordable Care Act included funding for insurance exchanges in
these territories, as President Obama promised when as a Senator he
campaigned in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and other 2008 Democratic
primaries. But the $14.5 billion in subsidies for the territories were
dumped in 2010 as ballast when Democrats needed to claim the law reduced
the deficit.
As a consolation, Democrats opened several public-health programs to the territories and bestowed most of ObamaCare's insurance regulations, which liberals euphemize as "consumer protections," such as requiring insurers to accept all comers and charge the same premiums regardless of patient health. "After a careful review of the law," said Health and Human Services in a 2012 letter, HHS granted the territories' request to apply these rules "to the maximum extent permitted by law."
http://online.wsj.com/articles/territories-free-of-obamacare...
As a consolation, Democrats opened several public-health programs to the territories and bestowed most of ObamaCare's insurance regulations, which liberals euphemize as "consumer protections," such as requiring insurers to accept all comers and charge the same premiums regardless of patient health. "After a careful review of the law," said Health and Human Services in a 2012 letter, HHS granted the territories' request to apply these rules "to the maximum extent permitted by law."
http://online.wsj.com/articles/territories-free-of-obamacare...
