The White House announced Tuesday that it is postponing a key provision of the federal healthcare law until 2015, a major concession to Republicans and the business lobby.The latest setback comes amid reports that the Obama administration is running into roadblocks as it prepares to implement the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.
The provision would have required businesses with 50 or more employees to provide affordable coverage to their full-time employees starting January 1 or risk a series of penalties.
Republicans called the postponement as evidence that the health law was a failure.
"This is a clear acknowledgment that the law is unworkable, and it underscores the need to repeal the law and replace it with effective, patient-centered reforms," House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a critic of the law, seized on the delay as a "clear admission" that the law is "unaffordable, unworkable and unpopular."
Many business groups also oppose Obamacare and are lobbying for changes that will mandate coverage only for employees who work at least 40 hours a week, not 30.
Obamacare, which was passed in 2010 and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court a year ago, is aimed at offering affordable coverage for low-wage Americans. However, policy experts have warned that the law would fail in reaching its objective.
According to a Gallup poll released in June, 52 percent of Americans disapprove of Obamacare. Forty-two percent of those surveyed said the law would change their familys healthcare situation for the worse and just 22 percent said it would improve their situation.
The New York Times reported in May that about half of U.S. states have refused to expand Medicaid, leaving millions of poor people ineligible for Obamacare.
By Press TV
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