This pardon is the most recent of a series of waivers, extensions, and actions by the administration that have raised conflict, that many are saying is a way for President Obama to test the parameters of his power.

This extension has further revealed the difficulties that the Obama Administration has had to undergo in order to keep the promise that Obama made, which is admittedly overstated, that consumers that liked their insurance plans could keep them, regardless.

In 2010, Obama allowed a 1-year reprieve for plans that didn’t meet the ObamaCare guidelines, but Wednesday’s action takes the reprieve even further, hindering one of the dominant doctrines that makes up the law an additional two years. This delays what the White House Officials call the elimination of “substandard insurance and junk policies.” “President Obama is once again trying to hide the effects of Obamacare,” the House majority leader, Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, said. “It is not fair to pick and choose which parts of an unpopular law should be enforced.”

Although the number of people with noncompliant insurance is unknown, various insurers sent over 4 million cancellation notices in Fall of 2013. The Obama Administration estimates, and hopes, that the percentage of consumers with noncompliant plans should substantially shrink by the time this two-year grace period comes to its’ final months. White House Officials stated that carriers are able to renew their policies with existing consumers through as late as October, 2016, which will give individuals and small groups to have noncompliant coverage into mid-2017.

Sources:
Pear, Robert. "Consumers Allowed to Keep Health Plans for Two More Years." The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Mar. 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.