D.C. Insurance Commissioner Fired Hours After Questioning ACA "Fix"

Mere hours after being among the first insurance commissioners to question the President's administrative "magic pill" fix, D.C. Insurance Commissioner, William White is joining the stubborn unemployment rolls.

After President Obama announced last week that his administration would address the growing rancor over millions of policy cancellations by simply not enforcing the ACA penalties for one year, Mr. White spoke harshly about the President's move.

“The action today undercuts the purpose of the exchanges, including the District’s DC Health Link, by creating exceptions that make it more difficult for them to operate,” White said in a statement.

He also pointed to a statement issued by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that said the Obama order “threatens to undermine the new market, and may lead to higher premiums and market disruptions in 2014 and beyond.”

“We concur with that assessment,” he assured.

White was summoned Friday afternoon to meet with with one of Washington Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s top deputies and was told that the mayor “wants to go in a different direction,” according to reports in the Washington Post.

White’s statement had been posted on the department website but was removed Friday morning. Spokesman Michael Flagg was asked about the removal and merely said the department's statement had changed.

“Our statement now is that we’re taking a close look at the implications of the president’s announcement on the District’s exchange and we will soon recommend a course of action after taking into consideration the positions of all the stakeholders,” Flagg wrote in an e-mail.

Granting another year for noncompliant plans — which often have strict limits on the types of care covered and the total amount of coverage offered — would relieve the mounting political pressure against Obama, who has been widely accused of dissembling in promising that people happy with their health-care plans could keep them. But insurers and policymakers are alarmed that the shift will mean healthy people who are happy with the low-premium, high-deductible plans will opt out of the exchanges, thus increasing premiums for those who do participate.

The largest insurer trade group in the country, America's Health Insurance Plans, also issued warnings last week of adverse consequences to this latest change, let alone the original problems prompting the change. "Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for consumers," said Karen Ignani, President and Chief Executive.

White responded to a Washington Post reporter about his support for the fix, insisting, “I wasn’t saying I was against it, I also was saying I didn’t know enough to fully support it — I want to be clear, and I think it is, I was not speaking for Mayor Gray.”

White had served as Gray’s commissioner for the D.C. Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking since February 2011. White said he was aware from the beginning of his tenure that he served at the pleasure of the mayor, and his job was not a protected one. He said he was proud of his record and would have stayed.

http://www.wisconsinfree.com/index.php/articles/162

Besides the fact that Obama delaying this for a year being unconstitutional.
NNow if you question the president you get fired unbelievable.

I would think "fired" is better than "death by mysterious but natural causes"....... which seems to be the usual fate

I thought that being thrown under the bus was the usual fate.