Where's Our Waiver?
Posted 01/28/2011 06:51 PM ET
ObamaCare: The granting of 500 more exemptions to unions, companies and even states begs the question — why is "affordable health care for all Americans" neither affordable nor for everybody?
The Obama administration has become famous for its crony capitalism, in which companies like General Electric were rewarded while energy companies, for example, were cast into the outer darkness. Now we have what might be called crony health care, with the favored escaping the full consequences of ObamaCare while the rest of us deal with the rising costs and reduced service.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi once told us we'd have to pass ObamaCare to see what was in it. Now it turns out we have to wait for its implementation to see who is in it. The issuance of more than 500 additional waivers to its draconian mandates by Health and Human Services makes the case for repeal even stronger.
It is a system where everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others. We were told everyone had to be in it, everyone had to be forced to buy government-approved insurance for ObamaCare to work.
As Emily Litella used to say on "Saturday Night Live": "Never mind."
Unions, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), are particularly favored in this charade. Unions represent 6.9% of the private work force, yet 40% of the workers covered by these waivers are union members.
There are no fewer than 182 union benefit funds, one-fourth of all waivers, now exempted. And of the only 14.6 million union employees in the U.S., 860,000 are already exempted from ObamaCare's mandated coverage requirements.
The SEIU — whose former head Andy Stern was once the leading visitor to the White House, ahead of Cabinet members and heads of state — had three of its locals exempted from ObamaCare mandates in the first batch of waivers, which reached 222 total: 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.
In the latest round of waivers, the SEIU, which lobbied mightily to force everyone else into ObamaCare, added four more locals to the waiver list, which stands at 729. There are now seven SEIU locals that have waivers, covering a total of 45,000 workers.
Other unions and labor groups have also benefited.
One of the largest waivers, for 351,000 people, went to the United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund, a New York union that covers teachers. The United Agricultural Benefit Trust, a California-based cooperative that provides such low-cost minimal coverage to farmworkers, was allowed to exempt 17,347 workers.
As columnist Michelle Malkin reports, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which trumpeted ObamaCare as "an achievement that will rank among the highest in our national experience," has secured waivers for 238 of its affiliates. Hypocrisy as a union label.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which said that with ObamaCare "finally, affordable and comprehensive health care coverage will be available for millions of working Americans," saw eight of its affiliates get waivers.
It seems ObamaCare is neither affordable nor comprehensive.
The exemption list even includes 4 states — Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee — that collectively cover 2.1 million workers. As we've noted, corporations such as McDonald's are also on the waiver list, saying ObamaCare makes their plans unworkable and unaffordable.
ObamaCare is in effect repealing itself, waiver by waiver. If it's so great, the Senate should vote on its repeal without fear.
Defunding should commence, as should House hearings exposing this fraudulent power grab. By the way, these new waivers come a week after Republicans announced plans to investigate the earlier waivers granted to groups for health care reform provisions.
Question: If the provisions these entities are exempt from are a hardship, then isn't the entire piece of legislation? |
