According to an official estimate by the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), at least 222 companies and unions have received waivers from Obamacare so far. Yet, as this number continues to soar, HHS refuses to explain to the American people how decisions are being made regarding which organizations receive a waiver and which do not.
One certainly cannot find any explanation in the Obamacare law itself. The Obama administration did not anticipate (despite repeated warnings) how much chaos would be created by the requirements of their massive healthcare overhaul. And so they have been forced to resort to a slapdash and politicized approach where officials at HHS are reviewing requests on a case-by-case basis with no set standards in place.
Now, here’s why this seemingly arbitrary and capricious policy is so dangerous: Companies able to secure these coveted Obamacare exemptions are given an unfair competitive advantage over their rivals — which, of course, blows the door wide open to influence peddling and corruption. Just yesterday, Karl Rove pointed out that the leftist Obama ally AARP, which spent millions on ads for Obama’s health “reform” effort, received an “extravagant gift” from Obama in the form of the very waivers Judicial Watch is investigating.
In order to make sure this doesn’t happen, we need transparency.
That’s why Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against HHS on December 3, 2010. We want the truth behind these Obamacare waiver decisions and here’s what we’re after:
A. All records concerning the decision to grant waivers of the Annual Limits Requirements of PHS Act Section 2711; and
B. All communications between McDonald’s Corp. and HHS concerning Annual Limits Requirements.
(The time frame for this request is from March 2010 to the present.)
We filed our original FOIA request on October 7, 2010, and HHS was required by law to respond by November 8, 2010. However, to date, HHS has failed to produce any records or provide a justification for withholding responsive records. Nor has the agency indicated when a response is forthcoming.
Regarding these waivers, you may recall that McDonald’s corporation tipped the first domino.
In September 2010, McDonald’s announced it would have to eliminate a health insurance program for nearly 30,000 low wage employees due to an Obamacare requirement that 80 to 85% of all insurance premium revenue be spent on patient care. Due to the high administrative costs associated with this type of health coverage program (known as a mini-med plan), McDonald’s insurer indicated it could not possibly meet the Obamacare requirement. HHS provided McDonald’s a one-year waiver concerning the Obamacare mandate and has been deluged with waiver requests from hundreds of other companies and unions since.
The Wall Street Journal deemed the McDonald’s waiver request, “one of the clearest indications that new [Obamacare] rules may disrupt workers’ health plans as the law ripples through the real world.”
But there are others. For example, in September 2010, The Wall Street Journal also reported that health insurers have been forced to raise premiums “as a direct result of the health overhaul.”
And yet, despite all of the chaos created by Obamacare “rippling” through the real world, all we get from the Obama administration is deafening silence and flagrant stonewalling. It appears Kathleen Sebelius’ HHS is more than willing to violate the Freedom of Information Act to keep Americans in the dark about these Obamacare failures. Secretary Sebelius might want to begin her implementation of Obamacare by obeying federal law regarding public records.
The Obama administration must make this waiver process completely transparent to the American people so they can be assured that the process is not infected by corruption.
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