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.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.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.
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.
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