Posted on 11/07/2013 3:39:54 AM PST by LD Jackson
I had thought I would not write at all today, much less write about Obamacare. I am weary with telling the tale of this train wreck and what it is doing to the American people. It seems, however, there is just no end to the depths to which the Obama administration will go to further its agenda and help its friends. Just ask the unions how they feel about Obamacare.
When the Affordable Care Act was first being considered in Congress, the unions were asked to support it, even though it appeared the legislation would not be optimal for them. They threw their support behind the bill and have complained ever since. Their latest gripe concerns a little item called a reinsurance fee that starts at $63 per insurance plan member in 2014. It goes down from there, but the unions have not been a happy camper about their members having to pay the fee. If I am not mistaken, this is the fee on what the President referred to as "Cadillac health plans" and the opposition of the labor unions has been extensive. It seems that their opposition has been duly noted and their support for President Obama remembered and rewarded.
Kaiser - Weeks after denying labor’s request to give union members access to health-law subsidies, the Obama administration is signaling it intends to exempt some union plans from one of the law’s substantial taxes.When a politician or our government does something this blatant, our standard method of response is to declare how we can not believe they would do something that so openly pays back their supporters with a financial gift. We like to tell how outrageous the government rule or regulation is. That much is true, but I am completely out of feigned surprise at anything the Obama administration does. They are giving every indication that they are about to pay back their union supporters with their own, handcrafted Obamacare exemption, and/or subsidy and there doesn't seem to be a thing normal Americans can do about it.Buried in rules issued last week is the disclosure that the administration will propose exempting “certain self-insured, self-administered plans” from the law’s temporary reinsurance fee in 2015 and 2016.
That’s a description that applies to many Taft-Hartley union plans acting as their own insurance company and claims processor, said Edward Fensholt, a senior vice president at Lockton Cos., a large insurance broker.
Insurance companies and self-insured employers that hire outside claims administrators would still be liable for the fee, which starts at $63 per insurance plan member next year and is projected to raise $25 billion over three years.
Unions, a key Obama ally, have increasingly criticized the Affordable Care Act as threatening the generous medical plans held by many members.
Eliminating the reinsurance fee was one of several resolutions adopted at the AFL-CIO’s September convention, along with giving union plans access to ACA tax credits for lower-income members.
In September the White House said the law disallowed health-law tax credits for union members on top of their company insurance. Now the administration seems to be moving toward part — but not all — of what labor wants on the reinsurance fee.
While it intends to waive the fee for 2015 and 2016, unions also wanted it scrapped for 2014, when it will be greatest. Taft-Hartley plans are collectively bargained and run jointly by unions and employers to allow workers to move from job to job without losing coverage.
The AFL-CIO did not respond to a request for comment.
Although it’s too early to tell whether the Department of Health and Human Services will give union plans all of what they want on the fee, last week’s language “is how HHS often breaks controversial regulatory news,” benefits lawyer R. Pepper Crutcher, Jr. wrote last week. It's not known when the administration will put out a new regulation on reinsurance.
Therein lies the beauty of Obamacare. If you are a liberal, that is. It is an open-ended law, designed specifically for a federal government that has no qualms about reaching far past its Constitutional boundaries. Once Obamacare was passed, it was open season for the Obama administration to start writing regulations and designing how the legislation would work. If some of their supporters cry foul, they can easily write or change a rule that cushions them from the effects of Obamacare.
Admittedly, the Obama administration is trying to keep this proposed ruling quite. They really don't want us to know what they are about to do. Hence, the burying of the rule in the Federal Register, with little or no fanfare. This administration is particularly adept at keeping these rulings hidden. Hence, I plan to keep writing about Obamacare. The debacle it has become, along with the way it is being managed to the benefit of the supporters of President Obama, is a story that needs to be told.
For more on this story, please visit Independent Sentinel.
Great, so that means more employers joining unions to get out of this garbage.
Great. So screwed by union dues to get out of Obamacare, or screwed by Obamacare.
when is “the law of the land” not “the law of the land”?
Union thugs.
As an individual whose plan was just terminated, the fact that everyone else seems to get a pass while I get the full brunt is like drinking a glass of bile. I truly detest this Administration. Obama did keep one promise, he’d fundamentally transform America. It is now a banana republic.
“when is “the law of the land” not “the law of the land”?
Maybe Justice Roberts will get another shot at getting this right?
These Congressrats have been bought and sold so many times they should have bar codes on them.
I would like to see someone take the original text of the ACA, as passed and compare it to the rules implemented today.
I am willing to bet there are all sorts of changes that were made illegally.
OK, show of hands.....Who on FReerepublic did not see this coming?
Falsely delayed and angered the unions by denying them exemptions for show and then BINGO.....give them a free ride on the Obamacare Express.
“Maybe Justice Roberts will get another shot at getting this right?”
Yes, I don’t understand how they can get away with the selectivity of this. If it’s a tax, which is how they were allowed to get away with it from a Constitutional perspective (according to Roberts), how can a tax be legally applied in a selective manner like this? It’s like saying ‘I’m only going to tax those people who aren’t essential parts of my voting block’.
Not "May", but "Will".
Supposedly Sebelius The Incubus has already written the rules to bypass congress and get this done.
...after the elections of course.
No surprise. And the media will cover it up—as usual.
There is no such thing as an exemption. No such thing as a waiver. What that means is the ‘justice’ department will not prosecute certain individuals and groups.
A law, by its nature, must apply to all people. This law already doesn’t apply to members of congress, and members of the world-domination movement cleverly disguised as a religion.
That renders the law invalid.
It appears that most people don’t understand why unions should be exempt from ACA. Here’s how MY union health plan works...
1. I’ve had PAY withheld from my paycheck for nearly 30 years. Not just a few dollars either. Last look it was $5.20/hr.
2. We are SELF-INSURED. Many unions are. In other words WE saved for OUR future. We place ZERO DOLLAR burdens on taxpayers. This is akin to me helping myself to YOUR savings account because I can’t balance my own checkbook and I’m short on cash.
3. When Obama entered the White House regulations were changed to “beef up” our funds. The funds are to be handed over to the federal government for “redistribution”. Obama promised our unions during the debates that if he were to become president, he would use OUR system as a role model because it has no taxpayer burden. This was in Chicago, in front of a dozen or more local unions.
Why people don’t realize that this is the mother of all taxes is beyond me. Our elected officials found a way to skim trillions off 1/6 of the US economy AND look like they actually care about our health.
Those in charge have us “turning on” each other... By telling us half truths!
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