Well, well. In the clearest evidence so far that ObamaCare is harmful in practice and an election-year liability, the Obama Administration has decided not to enforce some of the law’s “consumer protections.” At least when the results are politically embarrassing.
Over the last several weeks the Health and Human Services Department has granted dozens of temporary waivers to certain ObamaCare mandates so that insurers and businesses won’t drop or cancel coverage. The most conspicuous went to McDonald’s to protect the “mini-med” plans for some 30,000 hourly workers from a rule that prohibits annual restrictions on benefits. Mini-med policies offer modest coverage at low premiums and other low-wage fast-food chains like Jack in the Box and Denny’s have been granted waivers as well.
Cigna, Aetna and a few other insurers have been given hall passes to continue selling mini-meds. Another went to the United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund. The New York union offers city teachers supplemental drug coverage that would have been banned under the new rules.
At least this sudden regulatory flexibility is protecting the coverage that people have today, as President Obama promised. But it isn’t much of an improvement if HHS retreats only after a national political blow-up. After all, the essential point of the regulations was to destroy mini-med plans and other types of coverage that Democrats claim are insufficiently generous. Democrats from Mr. Obama on down call these rules “the patients’ bill of rights,” but people don’t regularly need exemptions from a bill of rights.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575546052343243306.html
Yeah, it’s embarrassing alright. THE ANNOINTED ONE finally admitted that his socialist health care mandate will raise premiums, but he already knew that.
ObamaCare hacks are breaking all land speed records running away from this train wreck. The most despicable thing is, after all the hard sell spinning, threats, and venomous epithets hurled at opponents, the asswipes who rammed this bill through and supported the disaster, are exempting themselves from the consequences. No one in their right mind wanted this shit to begin with. Now that hospitals are going through severe cutbacks, insurance companies are raising their rates, and doctors are refusing new Medicare patients, all in anticipation of the 2014 start of ObamaCare, none of them want it.
Welcome to the club, assholes. How’s that “change” coming along?
Related posts:
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/obamacare-already-having-bad-side-effects/
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/obamacare-scandal-in-scranton-pa-three-hospitals-up-for-sale/
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/union-pukes-granted-exemption-from-the-obamacare-they-pushed/
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/guess-whos-exempted-from-obamacare/