347 Pages of Regulations; 811 References to Mandates

This is hot off the press from Chris Jacobs:

This is hot off the press from Chris Jacobs:

HHS just released part of its Exchange regulations—a 244-page regulation regarding the establishment of Exchanges, and a separate 103-page regulation regarding risk adjustment.  While the Administration is trying to sell Exchanges as providing competition and flexibility, the 347 pages of regulations contain the word “require” a whopping 811 times (628 instances in the Exchange regulation, and 183 in the risk adjustment regulation).  It’s worth asking:  How flexible can a piece of regulation that has 811 separate references to mandates and requirements be?

As noted previously, the documents just released comprise only “part” of the regulations necessary for states to implement health insurance Exchanges under Obamacare.  Page 11 of the Exchange rule notes that most of the critical elements of Exchanges are NOT included in today’s regulations.