Update: 8,700 Pages of Obamacare Regulations
Over the past few weeks, several folks have asked for an updated count of the number of pages of regulations the Administration has released. Through today, that count totals 8,700 pages of rules and Federal Register notices related to Obamacare. That’s an increase of more than 2,100 pages since the one-year anniversary in March. And it doesn’t even include regulations not yet formally published in the Federal Register, like the massive Medicare physician fee schedule and the co-op regulations released in draft form this morning.
And of course, it’s not just paper that’s the problem – it’s the bureaucracy and confusion as well. As we’ve previously documented, the law creates 159 new bureaucracies, boards, and programs – which will produce more mandates for businesses to follow, and intrude on Americans’ personal relationships with their physicians. Just diagramming how the measure “works” has proved a nightmare, whether it comes to the whole law, or even a portion of it (like the bureaucratic hoops small businesses must go through to obtain tax credits).
At a time when our nation faces continued sluggish growth and record unemployment, it’s unfortunate that the damaging regulations and mandates released by the Administration to implement Obamacare will harm the American economy and job-creating businesses.