Obamacare = Calvinball

“Calvinball” is a game that Bill Watterson invented for his comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes.” In Calvinball, the rules are constantly changing.

Obamacare is constantly changing too. Obama has made a huge number of Changes to Obamacare since he signed it in March 2010.



Of course the two are not the exact same. In Calvinball, it’s a rule – a requirement – that the rules have to always be changing. But Obama’s changes to Obamacare are against the rules – his changes are illegal – because he made his changes without approval from Congress.

It’s interesting that a fictional six year old child is perfectly willing to follow the rules of his own game, while a real world “adult” President who swore to uphold the Constitution, and who has a Harvard law degree, and who taught Constitutional law at the University of Chicago, is not willing to obey the rules of the very Constitution that he studied, taught, and took an oath to uphold.

Here are three Calvinball cartoons by Bill Watterson, which I post with the “fair use” policy – followed by a list 19 changes that Obama has made to Obamacare – changes which he made illegally – because they were not approved by Congress.

Click on each image to see a larger version.

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19 illegal changes that Obama has made to Obamacare:

1) Within months after Obamacare was passed, Obama, without approval from Congress, illegally gave some organizations, including numerous corporations and unions, an exemption from some of the requirements of Obamacare. As time went on, more than 1,300 organizations received these exemptions.

2) In 2013, members of Congress and their staff complained that Obamacare was going to cost them a lot of money, and said that this would likely cause a brain drain among their staff. In response to this, Obama made changes to Obamacare so that these things would not happen. However, Obama’s actions were illegal, because he made these changes without Congress voting on them first. The New York Times wrote of this:

… the language of the health care law requires Congressional employees to obtain health insurance through an exchange created by the law, but other parts of the federal legal code restrict the ability of the federal government to pay the usual employer share for group insurance programs approved by the Office of Personnel Management.

A straightforward reading of the law thus means that Congressional staff members, starting in January 2014, will have to obtain insurance through the Affordable Care Act but pay for it on their own without the normal contribution from their employer — Congress. This would be a multi-thousand-dollar income hit for those affected… many… would potentially feel the pain, giving rise to concerns over a potential brain drain of Congressional staff members finding other employment.

… the federal personnel office initially ruled that Congressional staff members would not be eligible for the subsidies, and then changed this decision under pressure from the White House…

3) In July 2013, Obama illegally delayed the employer mandate part of Obamacare from January 2014 until January 2015 without Congressional approval.

4) Even though Obamacare requires the government to verify the income of people who receive subsidies for Obamacare exchanges, in August 2013 it was reported that Obama would not be verifying their incomes.

5) As it was passed by the House and Senate and signed by Obama in 2010, Obamacare sets caps on the out of pocket payments that people pay for health care, and these caps were legally required to take effect in January 2014. However, in August 2013, Obama, without approval from Congress, illegally delayed these caps until January 2015.

6) Obamacare requires that individual employees of small businesses be allowed to choose their own insurance plan during the first year of Obamacare. However, in March 2013, the Obama administration announced that it would not be allowing them to make this choice during the first year. Beacause Obama did this without approval from Congress, his action was illegal.

7) After Obamacare was passed, Obama illegally added 20,000 extra pages to it, without approval from Congress.

8) In May 2013, the Washington Post reported that Obama had illegally used Obamacare to give additional powers to the IRS, without approval from Congress.



9) In May 2013, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius solicited donations from health insurers to help pay for Obamacare. Such soliciting is illegal. Obama refused to fire or prosecute Sebelius for her criminal behavior.

10) Obamacare calls for the creation of 16,500 new IRS agents. In March 2011, 15 IRS agents illegally seized the medical records of 10 million people without a warrant. Obama refused to fire or prosecute them for their criminal behavior.

11) In August 2013, it was reported that Obama had illegally used Obamacare to fund pre-K education without approval from Congress.

12) In August 2013, it was reported that Obama had illegally missed 41 of Obamacare’s 82 deadlines.

13) In August 2013, it was reported that Obama was trying to give illegal Obamacare subsidies to unions, without approval from Congress.

14) Obamacare requires that the online registration for small businesses be ready by October 1, 2013. However, five days before that date, Associated Press reported that this deadline would not be met.

15) In November 2013, it was reported that Obama was trying to illegally exempt some unions from some of the Obamacare fees, without approval from Congress.

16) In August 2013, without approval from Congress, Obama illegally gave an Obamacare waiver to Massachusetts.

17) On November 14, 2013, after insurance companies had canceled policies that did not meet the minimum requirements of Obamacare, Obama told them to restore these policies. However, he did this without Congress voting to approve these changes to Obamacare. The President does not have the legal authority to change a law that was passed by Congress, without those changes first being approved by Congress.

18) In December 2013, Obama ordered insurance companies to cover “customers” who had never paid any premiums. Obama’s action was illegal because it violated the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment. It was also illegal because he did not have approval from Congress.

19) On December 19, 2013, Obama gave exemptions from the Obamacare mandate to people whose insurance had been canceled due to Obamacare. Because Obama gave out these exemptions without approval from Congress, his action was illegal.