More Delays In Healthcare Law

The Obama administration has quietly delayed a key provision in the U.S. national healthcare law that would limit out-of-pocket insurance costs for consumers until 2015.

The cap, which includes deductibles and co-payments, was supposed to limit consumer costs to $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. The change means some insurers could set higher limits or set no limit at all on out-of-pocket costs starting in 2014.

The delay has been outlined on the Labor Department’s website since February but was obscured in a maze of legal and bureaucratic language that went largely unnoticed. When asked in recent days about the language — which appeared as an answer to one of 137 “frequently asked questions about Affordable Care Act implementation” — department officials confirmed the policy.