More Of "We Have To Pass The Bill To See What's In It"

On Thursday, Freedomworks posted an article about a provision of Obamacare that was somehow overlooked in the debate.

This is the provision as stated in the article:

"Here's the relevant legal language from 1311(a):

"(1) PLANNING AND ESTABLISHMENT GRANTS.--There shall be appropriated to the Secretary, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, an amount necessary to enable the Secretary to make awards, not later than 1 year after enactment of this Act, to States in amounts specified in paragraph (2) for the uses described in paragraph (3).

"(2) AMOUNT SPECIFIED.--For each fiscal year, the Secretary shall determine the total amount that the Secretary will make available to each State for grants under this subsection.

"(3) USE OF FUNDS.--A State shall use amounts awarded under this subsection for activities (including planning activities) related to establishing an American Health Benefit Exchange, as described in subsection (b).

. . . 

"(4)(B).-- "No grant shall be awarded under this subsection after January 1, 2015.""

What this does, essentially, is set up a slush fund that will end in 2015. 

The article further reports:

"Under Mr. Obama's approving eye, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kathleen Sebelius, is already busy using this uncapped fund to seduce states into collaborating in the implementation of Obamacare. She's issued nearly $50 million in grants to help states "plan and evaluate" how they'll set up exchanges by 2014 as the law requires them to do."

Unfortunately, we are about to see how principled our state governments are.  I'm not optimistic.  Please follow the link to the article to read further details of this aspect of the bill.