Seema Verma Edges Higher in 2018 Brass Balls Sweepstakes

Bill Clark/Congressional Quarterly/Newscom via ZUMA

Last December Republicans eliminated Obamacare’s individual mandate, which had required everyone to buy individual insurance. “By repealing the individual mandate at the heart of Obamacare,” Paul Ryan said, “we are giving back the freedom and the flexibility to buy the health care that’s right for you and your family.” However, repeal of the mandate also had a drawback. According to the CBO:

Average premiums in the nongroup market would increase by about 10 percent in most years of the decade…relative to CBO’s baseline projections.

A few weeks ago, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill that restored the individual mandate for the state of New Jersey. Today, Donald Trump’s administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Seema Verma, tweeted her approval:

👏 to New Jerseyans, who will see their premiums in the individual market ↓ by about 15% from the expected premiums because @NJGov took action to address the failures of Obamacare. Today, @CMSgov approved NJ’s 1332 State Innovation Waiver. https://t.co/xvX4kcVZLW

— Administrator Seema Verma (@SeemaCMS) August 16, 2018

I know this is no longer a politically correct phrase, but can you even fathom the brass balls it takes to say this? Republicans repealed the individual mandate, which increased Obamacare premiums by about 10 percent. The Democratic governor and legislature of New Jersey restored the mandate, which eliminated the premium increase and maybe even reduced it a bit. And then the Republican CMS administrator responded by tweeting her congratulations for “addressing the failures of Obamacare.”

Brass. Fucking. Balls.