Rand Paul: If He Loves It So Much, Why Doesn't The President Take Obamacare?
Why doesn't the president voluntarily take Obamacare? I mean, it's his baby. He loves it so much, why doesn't the president take it? He could voluntarily go on the exchanges. In fact, I’m sure they'd welcome him at the D.C. exchanges. I really think that ought to be a question they ought to ask him at the press briefing today. Mr. President, are you willing to take Obamacare? If you don't want it, why are we stuck with it?

So, if the president can't take it, if Chief Justice Roberts doesn't want it, here's the thing. You want to see a rebellion? We should ask federal employees to take Obamacare. That’s what my amendment says, not just Congress. I’m willing to take it. I don't want it. I absolutely don't want it. And I’ve been frank about it. I’m not a hypocrite. I didn't vote for it. I think the whole thing is a mess and I don't want it. But the thing is if I’ve got to take it, I think the president ought to get it, get a full dose of his own medicine. I think Justice Roberts should get it. I think he contorted and twisted and found new meaning in the constitution that isn't there. And if he wants it so much, if he thinks it's justified and if he's going to take that intellectual leap to justify Obamacare, he ought to get it.

There’s millions of federal employees. They don't want it. But guess who they vote for usually? I think it is a partisan question. I think if we were to put it forward and say, Obamacare is such a wonderful thing for everybody, let's give it to the federal employees; my guess is we wouldn't get a single vote from the opposition party on this. But we won't even get a chance because they don't want to talk about it. Obamacare is good. We’re going to shove it down the rest of America’s throat. We’ll exempt ourselves.

I have a constitutional amendment. I frankly think that Congress should never pass any law that they're exempted from. I think there's an equal protection argument for how it would be unconstitutional for us to do so, and yet we've done it repeatedly. But my question to you is: What you think? Do you think maybe we should ask the president to come down today and sign up for Obamacare? I think we should ask him that today, every day, and henceforth. Mr. President, such a good idea, why don't you get it?

Why should Congress get special exemption under Obamacare?
...ack in 2009, when Democrats were writing the massive new national health care scheme, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley offered an amendment. Obamacare created exchanges through which millions of Americans would purchase "affordable" health coverage. Grassley's amendment simply required lawmakers, staff, and some in the executive branch to get their insurance through the exchanges, too.

To every Republican's amazement, Democrats accepted the amendment. It's never been fully clear why; the best theory is they intended to take the provision out in conference committee, but couldn't do so because they lost their filibuster-proof 60-vote majority. In any event, Obamacare --- the law of the land, as supporters like to say --- now requires Congress to buy its health care coverage through the exchanges....

...But that's the law. It could be amended, but Democrats, who voted unanimously for Obamacare, couldn't very well expect much help from Republicans, who voted unanimously against it. So over the summer Democrats asked President Obama to simply create an Obamacare exception for Capitol Hill.

Not long after --- presto! --- the Office of Personnel Management unveiled a proposed rule to allow members of Congress, their staff, and some executive branch employees to continue receiving their generous federal subsidy even as they purchase coverage on the exchanges. No ordinary American would be allowed such an advantage....

Even More Delays For Obamacare
...In yet another sign of the difficulty federal and state governments are having with the law's technical implementation, online enrollment for some of the law’s small business health exchanges will be delayed, according to Politico. Both the small business exchanges and the individual exchanges were scheduled to begin enrollment next Tuesday. Small businesses will still be able to enroll via a paper form.

It’s the second significant Obamacare delay announced already today. The District of Columbia, which along with a minority of states is running its own exchange, announced this morning that it would not begin online enrollment next week as originally planned.

The reason is that the enrollment technology designed to judge eligibility for subsidies or Medicaid isn’t working correctly yet....

Labor Unions: Obamacare Will 'Shatter' Our Health Benefits, Cause 'Nightmare Scenarios'
Labor unions are among the key institutions responsible for the passage of Obamacare. They spent tons of money electing Democrats to Congress in 2006 and 2008, and fought hard to push the health law through the legislature in 2009 and 2010. But now, unions are waking up to the fact that Obamacare is heavily disruptive to the health benefits of their members.

Last Thursday, representatives of three of the nation’s largest unions fired off a letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, warning that Obamacare would “shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.”

The letter was penned by James P. Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Joseph Hansen, international president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union; and Donald “D.” Taylor, president of UNITE-HERE, a union representing hotel, airport, food service, gaming, and textile workers.

“When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act,” they begin, “you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them. Sadly, that promise is under threat…We have been strong supporters of the notion that all Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care. We have also been strong supporters of you. In campaign after campaign we have put boots on the ground, gone door-to-door to get out the vote, run phone banks and raised money to secure this vision. Now this vision has come back to haunt us.”...

SEIU unionists strike over Obamacare-related cuts
Members of the Chicago-based Service Employees International Union Local 1 have gone on strike over recent job cuts by a janitorial company called Professional Maintenance.

The reason for the cuts? The employer says it is because of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. This is ironic since SEIU is a major supporter of the law.

Tyler French, Local 1's organizing director, told Mediatrackers Ohio the company claimed it had to cut its employees' hours due to Obamacare mandates....

Ten states where Obamacare wipes out existing health care plans
President Barack Obama famously promised, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” He later got even more specific.

“If you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have,” Obama said.

But as Obamacare’s rollout approaches, we have learned this is not true. Here are the ten states where consumers may like their health care plans, but they won’t be able to keep them....