President Obama’s storytellers recently launched a White House blog series called “Voices of Health Reform,” where “readers can meet average Americans already benefiting from the health reform law.”
I propose a new White House series: “Voices of Health Reform Waivers,” where taxpayers can meet all the politically connected unions benefiting from exclusive get-out-of-Obamacare passes — after squandering millions of their workers’ dues to lobby for the job-killing, private-insurance-sabotaging law from which they are now exempt.
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At the end of last year, the Department of Health and Human Services had granted some 222 temporary waivers to businesses small and large, insurers, and labor and other organizations that offer affordable health insurance or prescription-drug coverage with limited benefits. On Wednesday, the agency quietly updated its online list, which now reveals a whopping total of 729 Obamacare escapees — in addition to four states, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Tennessee — that collectively cover about 2.1 million enrollees.
At least one eyebrow-raising waiver recipient — the left-leaning, nationalized-health-care-promoting Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — has direct ties to the White House. Obama health-care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle sits on the foundation’s board of trustees.
Most noteworthy: One-fourth of all the waivers (182) so far have gone to labor groups.
The Teamsters Union, which hailed Obama last March for “enacting historic health care reform, providing health insurance to millions of Americans who don’t have it and controlling costs for millions more who do,” obtained waivers for 17 different locals.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which celebrated the passage of Obamacare as “an achievement that will rank among the highest in our national experience,” secured waivers for 28 different affiliates.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — which exulted after the health-care law’s passage that “finally, affordable and comprehensive health care coverage will be available for millions of working Americans” — saw eight of its affiliates win shelter from the Obamacare wrecking ball.
The Communications Workers of America, which sent its workers to lobby for Obamacare on Capitol Hill as part of the Health Care for America Now front group funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros, snagged a waiver that will spare a hefty 19,000 of its members from the onerous federal mandate.
And the Service Employees International Union, which poured $60 million into Democratic/Obama coffers in 2008 and millions more into the campaign for the federal health-care takeover, added four new affiliates to the waiver list: SEIU Local 2000 Health and Welfare Fund, representing 161 enrollees; SEIU 32BJ North Health Benefit Fund, representing 7,020 enrollees; SEIU Local 300, Civil Service Forum Employees Welfare Fund, representing 2,000 enrollees; and SEIU Health & Welfare Fund, representing 1,620 enrollees.
That’s in addition to three other previous SEIU waiver winners: Local 25 SEIU in Chicago with 31,000 enrollees; Local 1199 SEIU Greater New York Benefit Fund with 4,544 enrollees; and SEIU Local 1 Cleveland Welfare Fund with 520 enrollees. This brings the total number of Obamacare-promoting SEIU Obamacare refugees to an estimated 45,000 workers represented by seven SEIU locals.
Without the HHS-approved exemptions, these health providers would have been forced to drop low-cost coverage for seasonal, part-time, and low-wage workers because of skyrocketing premiums. The only way they are keeping their health care is by successfully begging the feds to spare them from Obamacare.
The Democrats’ law seeks to eliminate the low-cost plans (known as “mini-med” plans) under the guise of controlling insurer spending on executive salaries and marketing. The ultimate goal, as I’ve reported before: forcing a massive shift from private to public insurance designed by government-knows-best bureaucrats.
House and Senate Republicans plan separate investigations of the Obamacare-waiver process. Who got one when and why? Who knew whom? Who didn’t? HHS acknowledged Thursday that some 50 sanctuary-seekers had their waiver applications denied, but would not say more. Perhaps the White House storytellers, so eager to profile the “Voices of Health Reform,” can enlighten us.
Couldn't one of the 50 that were denied a waiver make an equal protection claim under the Constitution? Perhaps there is some rational and consistently applied set of standards that the waiver process is relying on, but we haven't heard of it. It looks more like a decision by bureaucrats to pass out favors--if so, isn't this precisely the sort of thing that would make a very strong claim that some were being denied equal protection of the law?
So I finally picked up a copy of "The Road to Serfdom." One of the points that Hayek makes is that a government that arbitrarily chooses to favor one entity over another is a hallmark of socialism. It demonstrates the central fallacy of central planners who think they can make better decisions than the market.
The bottom line is that permitting waivers to any government regulation inevitably increases the power of the government, and makes those receiving the waivers supplicants. Even though they may realize a short-term benefit, they've become clients of the government and are beholden to it.
Multiply that by the complexity of the whole Obamacare scheme and you have a disaster in making.
If memory serves, a large bureaucracy imposed certain restraints on behavior on its participants, and originally identified them as universal.
However, an option was developed that permitted certain applicants to pay a penalty in advance to be exempt from the rules.
A popular figure complained loudly that this was not fair, that the rules should apply to all or none, and that exemptions undermined the moral authority of the office. He identified this transaction as the "sale of indulgences".
America has always been a land of Tall Tales and all regions are represented. What child hasn't heard Tall Tales about Pecos Bill out west, Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox up north, John Henry from Alabama, Stormalong from Boston, Mike Fink on the Ohio and the mighty Mississippi and basically any story told about Texas!
Who knew that the greatest story teller of all wasn't going to be someone like Mark Twain but Barack Obama (he has written a couple of books)! The stimulus, Obamacare, the SOTU speech, all great moments in tall tales (let's not forget the campaign either).
There are many terms for these tall tales. The Good Lord tells us to stay away from them in #8 of the big 10. When I was in the Navy, we called them Sea Stories. The best comparison though, is that it resembles what comes out of the south-end of a north-bound bull!
So Michelle,are you saying that big government brings big time corruption,big time favor seeking and big time vote buying? Who could have seen it coming? Certainly not a Chicago political hack! Or his boot licking sycophants on the left, including the MSM! I'm just shocked I tell you. Shocked!
Now we all know what arrogant hypocrisy looks like.
Every single republican running at the federal level during the 2012 cycle should be screaming this from the mountaintops, OK maybe just making sure everyone is aware of this, on a daily basis.
Very well said klhicks72! I think the waiver's will add to the evidence against obamacare to help sink it with the Supreme's in addition to all the states lawsuits. The evidence is mounting!
Stop spouting nonsense, the process is open and available to any business who wishes to apply. As you can see by the list and the reasonings I am sure they would be happy to disclose any information or criteria ms. Malkin wishes to have explained to her. Honestly you guys are ridiculous, fyi I have a successful small business and can afford the best healthcare for my family and my employee's all paid for. I support what this administration is doing even when i know eventually it means my taxes may go up. I care more about the well being of others than a few extra dollars at the end of the year. BTW the waivers have to be applied for every year, AND in 2014 they wont exist any longer due to the full implementation of the exchanges. And the reasonings behind the states exemptions is based on the state laws regarding health car on a per state basis. I forgot states rights supersede federal law.. Isn't that a Republican talking point.. I wonder sometimes how hypocritical you can be...
You have to ask the logical question here. Why support something if you are going to immediately opt out? I’ll tell you why, the labor unions know it’s a bad plan but in that it’s a bad plan it once again makes the unions look as if they are providing a service by being able to offer union members a better option. Unions have become self serving and functionally useless at best, at worst, and more acuratly, they have become a fatal parasite on the US industrial complex.
