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Over Half of All Obamacare Waivers Given to Union Members
Weekly Standard ^ | May 16, 2012 | Mark Hemingway

Posted on 07/02/2012 5:16:25 AM PDT by KeyLargo

Over Half of All Obamacare Waivers Given to Union Members

Mark Hemingway May 16, 2011 9:20 AM

In what is fast becoming a weekly event, the Obama administration granted 200 more companies waivers from the Democrats' sweeping health care law in the Friday night news dump. That brings the number of companies receiving waivers to 1,372. (You can get a full list of the companies exempted here.)

Not surprisingly, it helps to be a Democratic ally when seeking a waiver. The Republican Policy Committee reports that over half of the workers that have been exempted so far belong to unions:

The plans newly approved for waivers cover more than 160,000 people, bringing to nearly 3.1 million the number of individuals in plans exempted from the health law’s requirements. Of the participants receiving waivers, more than half – over 1.55 million – are in union plans, raising questions of why such a disproportionate share of union members are receiving waivers from the law’s requirements. The percentage of participants receiving waivers that come from unions also continues to rise – the number was 48% in April, and 45% in March.

Unions already received a generous concession in the health care bill. Their generous "cadillac" insurance plans were exempted from being taxed until 2018,

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: obamacare; unions; waivers
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Applications for Waiver of the Annual Limits Requirements

Updated January 6, 2012

Click on the links below for a list of approved waiver applicants organized by type:

Persons using assistive technology may not be able to fully access information in this file. For assistance, please email HealthInsurance@hhs.gov.

Self-Insured Employers (722) Multi-Employer Plans (417) Non-Taft Hartley Union Plans (34) Health Insurance Issuers (50) State-Mandated Policies (5) Association Plans (3)

http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/files/approved_applications_for_waiver.html

1 posted on 07/02/2012 5:16:35 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

What are some of the court rulings on tax waivers and how they are handed out?


2 posted on 07/02/2012 5:18:25 AM PDT by Wyatt's Torch (I can explain it to you. I can't understand it for you.)
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To: Wyatt's Torch

Unions and Waivers in Obamacare

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Bob

Fellow Patriot,

On Friday, we told you about one of the most repugnant elements of ObamaCare: It codifies lawlessness and government-by-whim.

How has it done so? ObamaCare empowered Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius with the unilateral power to issue waivers from the law’s mandates and obligations. So far, a total of 1,472 waivers have been granted.

What makes this doubly offensive is that the criteria for awarding waivers and denying waivers — as were recently denied to the states of Oklahoma and Kansas — have never been made public. It’s government by the whim of the unelected Secretary of HHS.

Today, we learn that the biggest beneficiaries of the waivers issued by Sebelius and HHS have been President Obama’s friends in the big labor unions. The Daily Caller reports that labor unions representing 543,812 union members received waivers. By contrast, private employers with only 69,813 employees received waivers.

Major labor unions were some of the biggest supporters of ObamaCare. But, they’ve had to seek special exemption in the form of waivers to avoid the harmful consequences of the law. If they didn’t, many would find themselves in a similar position to New York’s SEIU Local 1199, which had to drop coverage of children for the more than 30,000 home-attendant workers.

http://2012electionsblog.the2012presidentialelections.com/2012-elections-blog/unions-and-waivers-in-obamacare/


3 posted on 07/02/2012 5:20:12 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

Areen’t all taxes supposed to be applied equally? Just asking...


4 posted on 07/02/2012 5:23:20 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Good website here that explains much.

OBAMCARE - The Truth. The Lies

http://obamacare.net/


5 posted on 07/02/2012 5:25:10 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

You know, if this is such a great law, how come there are waivers for some groups?

Ugh.

Lies and more lies.

Disgraceful.


6 posted on 07/02/2012 5:26:43 AM PDT by RexBeach (Mr. Obama Can't Count.)
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To: KeyLargo

any union shills that show their faces at pro-obamacare demonstrations should be called out on this if their union is waivered

the “press” needs to do its job!

how does someone get “waivered” from a federal “tax” anyway?


7 posted on 07/02/2012 5:26:52 AM PDT by silverleaf (Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

Unions Get Waivers Bought With Political Cash – ObamaCare Waivers

In a telltale Friday-night document dump, the White House released records showing the latest lucky recipients of ObamaCare cost waivers. By the wildest of coincidences, 87% of them belong to Big Labor unions. Interesting, since Big Labor pulled out all the stops to get the president’s signature on health care reform passed in March 2010. [...]

8 posted on 07/02/2012 5:29:24 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo
It codifies lawlessness and government-by-whim.

And THAT is their central aim in dismissing and shredding the Constitution. Without the Constitution, they rule as they see fit. It's a whole lot easier to subjugate the populace without it.

9 posted on 07/02/2012 5:46:46 AM PDT by Pecos (Constitution? Oh, you mean that thing we USED to have.)
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To: KeyLargo

This healthcare plan is so great, all the Presidents friends are exempted from it......


10 posted on 07/02/2012 5:49:13 AM PDT by When do we get liberated? (A socialist is a communist who realizes he must suck at the tit of Capitalism.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

I have been pondering the declaration that the cost penalty is actually a tax.
I agree with your point re taxes are supposed to be levied equally...and how can that now be with all of the exemption crowds being exempted. And the exemptions are being handed out by the Executive branch.
Second point, don’t all tax bills and budgets supposedly first need to initiated in the House of Reps?

In my eyes all of these exemptions are invalid and just another piece of the mess of this sloppy over-reach of power.


11 posted on 07/02/2012 5:49:32 AM PDT by AlphaOneAlpha
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To: AlphaOneAlpha
Second point, don’t all tax bills and budgets supposedly first need to initiated in the House of Reps?

Heard one of the attorneys who represented the states on Bill Bennett's show on Friday and he said that the way it was written that it took pieces from a bill that originated in the House so it meets that guideline.

12 posted on 07/02/2012 5:57:55 AM PDT by Wyatt's Torch (I can explain it to you. I can't understand it for you.)
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To: KeyLargo

oMOBaScam


13 posted on 07/02/2012 6:02:26 AM PDT by tflabo (Truth or tyranny)
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To: All

So now, all these waivers are actually tax exemptions. Including the ones in Nancy Pelosi’s district.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/17/nearly-20-percent-of-new-obamacare-waivers-are-gourmet-restaurants-nightclubs-fancy-hotels-in-nancy-pelosi%E2%80%99s-district/


14 posted on 07/02/2012 6:10:56 AM PDT by Lacey
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To: KeyLargo
lol. I just wrote to the email address you provided asking for my own waiver under the Equal Protection provision of the US Constitution.

We'll see what they have to say. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

We all need to do that.

15 posted on 07/02/2012 6:25:36 AM PDT by HeartlandOfAmerica ("We have prepared for the unbeliever, whips and chains and blazing fires!" Koran Sura 76:4)
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To: Lacey

"The Mandate is NOT a tax - , it's a penalty" NANCY PELOSI

16 posted on 07/02/2012 6:28:11 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: AlphaOneAlpha

Furthermore, what about all the religious exemptions? Muslims, and others, don’t have to participate, but Catholic institutions have to provide free abortions and contraceptives for their employees. I just don’t understand how Roberts could have voted to sustain this.


17 posted on 07/02/2012 6:49:04 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: AlphaOneAlpha

Furthermore, what about all the religious exemptions? Muslims, and others, don’t have to participate, but Catholic institutions have to provide free abortions and contraceptives for their employees. I just don’t understand how Roberts could have voted to sustain this.


18 posted on 07/02/2012 6:49:04 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: KeyLargo

Where’s my equal protection?


19 posted on 07/02/2012 7:04:29 AM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: KeyLargo

I’m confused. Since when does the HHS decide who gets taxed and who does not? So to understand, ObamaCare empowered the HHS to do this?


20 posted on 07/02/2012 7:04:31 AM PDT by GTM01
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