Exempt Me, Too!

Townhall.com ^ | October 1, 2013 | Tim Phillips

[Kaslin]

Obama claimed, “If you like your plan, you can keep it,” unless you’re an average American citizen, that is. As costs rise, healthcare options dwindle, and businesses take preventative measures to minimize the negative impact of ObamaCare, more and more of the well-connected and elites have taken measures to excuse themselves from the burdens the law brings. Obama’s promise of healthcare for all, has quickly become healthcare that no one wants.

When ObamaCare was introduced, Congressman Chuck Grassley inserted an amendment that required all of Congress to buy into this form of healthcare. But since then grumbles and complaints have been heard on Capitol Hill over the prospect of losing their top-notch, taxpayer-funded plans to a relatively burdensome alternative. All the griping begs the question; if ObamaCare isn’t good enough for the lawmakers who voted for it, why should our families have to be stuck with this healthcare?

But instead of attempting to actually fix (or repeal) ObamaCare, members of Congress dodged the issue and gave themselves an exemption from the law. Your representatives no longer have to deal with the same ObamaCare problems that your family will face.

Even labor unions, one of the biggest cheerleaders initially, are now beginning to regret their decision. They are finally looking a few steps down the road and are beginning to see what the average business owner will have to do to stay afloat. Under the new law, employers with over 50 employees must provide this new healthcare or face a stiff penalty. The problem is that it’s easier to cut jobs, hours, and benefits than to comply with the massive glut of new regulations, and we’re already seeing that play out. Earlier this week Trader Joe’s, known for their generous benefits, announced they were dropping healthcare coverage for all part-time employees. Trader Joe’s is just the latest employer whose workers are falling victim to ObamaCare, and the CBO estimates that at least another 40 million workers will lose their employer-provided coverage.

Also calling foul over being subjected to ObamaCare is the entire state of Massachusetts. Consistently touted as the poster-child for ObamaCare, the Massachusetts law even had a hand at bringing down the Republican nominee and signer of the law, Mitt Romney. Now, even Democrats in the state are calling for waivers from the law saying that the “one size fits all” approach is unworkable. It’s troubling when a state that has had to deal with a similar healthcare law is worried about this one.

Asking for waivers isn’t a new phenomenon either. Back in 2011, when the law was still being created, many well-connected businesses asked and received waivers from Washington elites. A massive 20% of those businesses that received waivers were in Nancy Pelosi’s California district alone. Unlike lawmakers, they must have actually read the bill and found out what was in it.

The largest exemption though occurred over the Fourth of July weekend where all employers with more than 50 full-time employees were allowed to delay the implementation of ObamaCare until 2014. But the middle class, those ordinary citizens like you and I, get no relief as the Individual Mandate remains in effect.

That’s why Americans for Prosperity has created a new website called JustExempt.me for ordinary citizens to let Congress know that they too would like to be excluded from a law which isn’t good enough for members of Congress. We’ll also be holding events throughout the country at football games and community events to let people know that if Congress and special interests are exempted that we should be too!

With everyone in a position of power refusing to fix anything and instead just handing out “get out of ObamaCare free” cards, what can the average citizen do? We need to send a message to the elites and so called “champions of the middle class” in Washington and tell them that if they really cared about us and our economic viability as a nation, they will take the issue of ObamaCare seriously and repeal it.

[TexasCajun]

What do we want!!?

Equal Protection!!

When do we want it!!?

Now!!

What do we want...

[Timber Rattler]

Rat congressman Jim Moran was on WMAL this morning and actually tried to defend why his staff was so special that they deserved an exemption from this monstrosity. It was infuriating listening to this hypocrite.

[Jack Hydrazine]

I think the Amish and aboriginal Americans are exempt.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/08/28/white-house-publishes-final-regulations-for-obamacares-individual-mandate-seven-things-you-need-to-know/

5. Many older individuals will be exempt from the mandate

If you need to buy insurance on your own, you’re exempt from the individual mandate if the cost of your coverage is more than 8 percent of your household income. (The percentage is adjusted, over time, using a somewhat complex formula.) This means many older people—who pay higher premiums than younger people—will be exempt from the mandate altogether.

6. If you don’t file a tax return, you’re exempt

You’re also exempt if your income is below the poverty line, or if you don’t file an IRS tax return. Indeed, if you add up all of these exemptions, MIT economist and Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber estimates that 40 percent of people who are uninsured are exempt from the individual mandate.

7. ‘Members of recognized religious sects’ and American Indians are also exempt

If you’re a member of a “federally-recognized Indian tribe,” congratulations! You’re also exempt from the individual mandate. This is in part because the Indian Health Service offers government-run health care to members of such tribes. Members of a “recognized religious sect or division,” as specified in Section 1402(g)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code, are also exempt. So, you might be asking yourself: which “religious sects” are exempt?

The Internal Revenue Code exempts an individual from certain taxes if he is “a member of a recognized religious sect or division thereof and is an adherent of established tenets or teachings of such sect or division by reason of which he is conscientiously opposed to acceptance of the benefits of any private or public insurance which makes payments in the event of death, disability, old-age, or retirement or makes payments toward the cost of, or provides services for, medical care,” including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Your “sect” has to have been in continuous existence since December 31, 1950, and the Commissioner of Social Security must agree that your sect “has the established tenets or teachings” consistent with opposition to medical benefits. While there are some on the Internet who believe that this religious exemption applies to Islam, it doesn’t appear that way to me, as Muslims are not exempt from Social Security. Instead, the exemption is meant for groups like the Amish.

So if you really hate the individual mandate, you don’t have to burn your Obamacare card—just join the Amish or an Indian tribe!

[Wurlitzer]

If we still had a functioning Constitution we should demand that EVERYONE be fully subjected to all laws and regulations passed by the Federal Government.

The only exemption the founders intended was freedom from being sued for speech on the House or Senate floor so our representatives would be free to openly debate issues. They, as so typical of government, expanded that exclusion to include just about anything they want!

Instead we have ruling elite who are not subjected to the laws they pass.

How much further are “We The People” to allow this government to exceed its Constitutional boundaries before we exercise the Thomas Jefferson escape clause?

[Carry_Okie]

I’ve got a better idea: The exemptions and waivers are illegal. Exempt no one, NOW.

[Kaslin]

Muslims are too, if I am not mistaken. Courtesy of the arrogant pos of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave

[Kaslin]

Right on

[Jack Hydrazine]

From what I have read that is an urban myth.

[Grampa Dave]

Comments by Rush Limbaugh and Rand Paul:

"I mean, can you imagine a defund Obamacare effort, how much more likelihood it might hold if members of Congress really were upset with how much it was gonna cost 'em? But then Obama came up and took care of that. He's gonna subsidize 75% of their premium, so they now don't care. But if he hadn't subsidized 75% of their premiums for Congress, Senate, and their staffs, then they might not be so eager to have this thing fully funded and implemented. But Obama took care of them. But when he goes out to these low-information audiences and college kids, he doesn't care. He just tells them how wonderful and how great it is, and they'll deal with it later. "

"You really have to wonder, if Obamacare is so great, why did Congress demand to be exempted from it? And they did. I mean, they demanded to be exempted from it like the elites demand to be exempted from everything they subject all the rest of us to. Why are the unions trying to get their own carve-out? Why is everybody trying to make some move to get their own carve-out or waiver from this thing if it is so wonderful? In fact, if it's so wonderful, why does it even need to be sold at all? Why does Obama have to go out there and tout the thing, if it's so wonderful? I mean, it ought to just sell itself, shouldn't it?"

[loveliberty2]

Quotation from James Madison, often referred to as "the father" of the U. S. Constitution, in THE FEDERALIST, No. 57, (Excerpt):

"I will add, as a fifth circumstance in the situation of the House of Representatives, restraining them from oppressive measures, that they can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass of the society. This has always been deemed one of the strongest bonds by which human policy can connect the rulers and the people together. It creates between them that communion of interests and sympathy of sentiments, of which few governments have furnished examples; but without which every government degenerates into tyranny. If it be asked, what is to restrain the House of Representatives from making legal discriminations in favor of themselves and a particular class of the society? I answer: the genius of the whole system; the nature of just and constitutional laws; and above all, the vigilant and manly spirit which actuates the people of America -- a spirit which nourishes freedom, and in return is nourished by it.

"If this spirit shall ever be so far debased as to tolerate a law not obligatory on the legislature, as well as on the people, the people will be prepared to tolerate any thing but liberty."

[Kaslin]

You must have a strong stomach if you were able to listen to that lunatic

[Kaslin]

Great post as always.

I haven't read you in a while, hope all is well with you.

[MarineMom613]

From what I’ve read, muslims got the exemption because their religion is against “gambling” and insurance is a form of “gambling”. (will I or wont I) Don’t really know what the end result was, but I think they got the exemption.

[Jack Hydrazine]

I found this article from FrontPageMagazine that says the exemption for Muzzies is false.
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/eric-burns/muslims-exempt-from-obamacare/

But it does say this...

“Nevertheless, PPACA rules offer a situation where American Muslims could qualify for the religious exemption. If an individual is a member of a “health-sharing ministry,”—a religious non-profit organization in which members contribute money to cover the medical expenses of those in need—they are exempt from the requirement to purchase insurance.”

Reading the whole article is worth the time.

[Timber Rattler]

Well, it was actually kinda funny because hosts Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor are mostly Conservative, and when they pointed out the double standard, Moran just started spitting into his phone with rage.

[MarineMom613]

will do, thanks.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Collectivists hate it when you reveal what liars they are. All their hatred spews forth post haste!

[Kaslin]

Are you talking about this Brian Wilson?

He used to work at FNC and is indeed a conservative

[Vaduz]

If you like your plan, you can keep it,” unless you’re an average American citizen then you will receive the LTD plan (Let them die).