More ObamaCare Waivers: 40% Are Unions

No one can say that Obama doesn't reward those who do his dirty work.

Yesterday, the Deparment of Health and Human Services announced it had granted more than 500 new waivers to Obamacare's requirement that health plans have annual limits of no less than $750,000. This annual limit requirement climbs to $1.25 million next year and then to $2 million.

The reason these exemptions from the law are needed is that Obamacare forces all health insurance consumers to over-insure themselves and pay high premiums as a result. Without the waivers, many companies, non-profits and unions would simply drop their health plans. As of 2014, the waivers will no longer be available -- at least, that's the way the law is written.

It is worth noting that there are 166 union benefits funds now exempted from this requirement, which account for about 40 percent of the exempted workers. This means that although there are only 14.6 million unionized employees in the United States, and 860,000 of them are already exempted from this provision of Obamacare.

Depends on What Your Definition of "Is" is

NYT: Stunning reversal, Obama Defends Healthcare as "Tax"

If I were a cynical person, I'd almost think that these people would say anything in order to push their agenda.

WASHINGTON — When Congress required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, Democrats denied that they were creating a new tax. But in court, the Obama administration and its allies now defend the requirement as an exercise of the government’s “power to lay and collect taxes.”

And that power, they say, is even more sweeping than the federal power to regulate interstate commerce.

Administration officials say the tax argument is a linchpin of their legal case in defense of the health care overhaul and its individual mandate, now being challenged in court by more than 20 states and several private organizations.

Under the legislation signed by President Obama in March, most Americans will have to maintain “minimum essential coverage” starting in 2014. Many people will be eligible for federal subsidies to help them pay premiums.

In a brief defending the law, the Justice Department says the requirement for people to carry insurance or pay the penalty is “a valid exercise” of Congress’s power to impose taxes.

The Real Costs of Change

Four years of tax increases, then the "benefits" kick in.

Yes, It's That Bad

If the actions of the Democrat leaders of Congress are such that they are criticized by Chris Matthews, then it's really bad.

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"We urge Democrats not to embark on such a fool's errand, especially on a bill that doesn't extend coverage to all Americans or rein in rising health care costs for those individuals and businesses already paying for insurance." - Denver Post Editorial Opinion

"The president's health plan won't solve a problem. It will be the start of bitter fights over funding and policy that will consume the nation for decades to come." - Wall Street Journal

This is where Obamacare is. Everyone knows it won’t work. As liberal Sen. Dick Durbin just admitted, “Anyone who would stand before you and say well, if you pass health care reform next year’s health care premiums are going down, I don’t think is telling the truth.” - Boston Herald

"We are on the verge of an overheated political meltdown over health care that will result in either a partisan, controversial law that polarizes Washington for years or nothing passing, which would spook Congress into another decade of inactivity." - Atlanta Journal Constitution

While the President's push toward the health care bill commands our government's focus, other issues continue to rise.

"Barack Obama said 3,341 words before he advocated health care reform during his State of the Union address. It was indicative of the White House pledge to pivot to jobs in 2010. As early as last Thanksgiving, the president declared, "I will not rest until businesses are investing again and businesses are hiring again and people have work again."

Nearly four months later, Obama continues to spend most of his waking hours attempting to pass a health care bill. No legislation has so engulfed Washington in decades.

What's intriguing today is the thunderclap unheard. It's the greatest jobs crisis in three-quarters of a century. All political hands are on deck for health care. But to most Americans, the storm is elsewhere." - David Paul Kuhn, Real Clear Politics

"Here’s how you know the massive amounts of debt compiled by the Bush administration, and even greater debt loads promised as part of Barack Obama’s agenda, is reaching crisis proportions: Even the Wall Street bond-rating agencies are now sounding the alarm bellsThe current warning shouldn’t be taken lightly, precisely because ratings agencies like Moody’s have been so late in the past. Calling attention to the country’s debt level must mean we are really heading for trouble." - Charlie Gasparino, Daily Beast

YES WE CAN!

Our federal deficit grew $181 BILLION in the single month of July.  Consumer bankruptcies increased 34% in July.  President Obama has been trying to position July as "silk purse" from the "sow's ear" of not loosing jobs as fast as we were.   Obama's Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is asking Congress to increase our debt limit.   Apparently it is "critically important" that we get our Visa card limit increased above the current $12.1 TRILLION within the next two months.

The reaction from the Democrats in Congress?  

"House Democratic leaders have set up a healthcare “war room” to help their rank-and-file members navigate a tumultuous August in which they find themselves on the defensive on their signature issue."

First priority is to establish a war room to counter the angry mobs opposed to dropping $1 TRILLION over the next 10 years into expanding government entitlements for people without health insurance.    The current administration and the Democrats in Congress appear to be pushing toward a passage of Universal Health Insurance without input from Republicans, or the public.  

I am glad that Obama has been able to move the Democrat party away from that "free spending liberal" image they have been un-fairly labeled with.