WASHINGTON — There’s a bit of a domino effect involving President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Enforcement of the law’s central requirement — that individual Americans must have coverage — could be weakened by the administration’s recent delay of another mandate that larger employers provide medical insurance.
It’s because the delayed rule also required companies to report health insurance details for employees. Without employers validating who’s covered, a scofflaw could lie, and the government would have no easy way to check.
The Treasury Department said Tuesday it expects any impact to be minor, since most people will not risk telling the government a lie. Still, it’s another incentive for uninsured people to ignore a costly new government requirement.
The Republican-led House will vote Wednesday on delaying both the employer and individual requirements.
