200 More Companies Get Excused From Obamacare

[tyfighter3]

All we would have to do is Ban all Health Insurance. That would bring down Health Cost real fast.

[henryclay]

That'd work for some, but it will never happen. So what's the answer to #89? Why are so many companies bailing out and wanting to keep such an abject health care failure when there is this bright new future ahead for better health care at less cost?

[Deleted]

Well, since Obama has raised $30,800 so far to Romney's $10,000,000. in one single day... Obama better get busy using his position to buy people off, seems the cash flow is slow for him so far..

[Deleted]

www.cnsnews.com/news/article/report-doctors-refusing-treat-overweight
Report: Doctors Refusing to Treat Overweight Patients
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
By Susan Jones
From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Fifteen obstetrics-gynecology practices out of 105 polled by the Sun Sentinel said they have set weight limits for new patients. Some of the doctors said the main reason was their exam tables or other equipment can't handle people over a certain weight, but at least six said heavy women run a higher risk of complications.
"People don't realize the risk we're taking by taking care of these patients," the newspaper quoted Dr. Albert Triana of South Miami as saying. "There's more risk of something going wrong and more risk of getting sued. Everything is more complicated with an obese patient in GYN surgeries and in [pregnancies]," he told the newspaper.
It is not illegal for doctors to refuse overweight patients, but it has medical ethicists worried. So far, the weight cutoffs have been enacted only by South Florida ob-gyns, who have long complained about high numbers of lawsuits after difficult births and high rates for medical-malpractice insurance.

***Good thing we have tort reform coming up in Obamacare, right?? Oh, no, that was the Pub plan...***

[lakhota]

I think there should be a Tabloid Board for righties who start threads they don't understand.

[hello fromWarsaw]

"If Obamacare is so good, why are so many big name outfits, like SIEU for instance, wanting out?"

They don't. Why ask stupid questions- google it and find out- stop being misled- Very few waivers go after implementation, and those only temporarily.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

May 18, 2011 1:32:59 GMT -5 @krickitt said:

Well, since Obama has raised $30,800 so far to Romney's $10,000,000. in one single day... Obama better get busy using his position to buy people off, seems the cash flow is slow for him so far..

I'm sure George Soros will find a way to funnel a billion or so to Obama through his myriad front groups.

[lakhota]

Pawlenty Spreads Sarah Palin's Lie About Health Care Waivers (VIDEO)

Tim Pawlenty, the man who many think will pick up the frontrunner baton in the 2012 Republican presidential nomination fight should Mitt Romney drop it, took to the airwaves yesterday to follow the lead of another high profile presidential contender: Sarah Palin.

On Fox News last night, Pawlenty deftly took up Palin's almost completely fact-free attack on the waivers from the new health care reform law that some businesses providing low-payout plans have received since the law passed. The Obama administration has exempted these less than ideal health care plans from new regulations, fearful that low-income employees will lose what little coverage they have before the exchanges open in three years.

Pawlenty, like Palin and a good part of the conservative blogosphere yesterday, called the practice of granting waivers "crony politics."

Pawlenty was picking up a meme first started by the Daily Caller yesterday with a report indicating that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi's district was receiving an inordinate number of the waivers, which are typically granted to employers who offer low wages.

Pelosi's office didn't respond to the Daily Caller, but the story was thoroughly debunked by Mother Jones' Suzy Khimm, among others. The White House put out its own statement noting the waivers will not continue past 2014, and describing the process by which they're granted.

The right has been after these waivers for a while -- claiming they show a basic corruption by the White House when it comes to its signature legislative achievement -- and it's little surprise that Obama opponents latched onto the Daily Caller story after it was published.

"Unflippingbelievable! No, wait, it is believable," Palin told the Daily Caller. "Seriously, this is corrupt."

Pawlenty picked up the meme and took it from the Palin fringe right into the Republican mainstream.

"Another example of really crony politics, or crony capitalism," Pawlenty told Sean Hannity Tuesday. "if you've got the right connections, the right lobbyist, the right interest group, you get your special deal, and the rest of us get our wallet out."

tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/t-paw-spreads-sarah-palins-lie-about-health-care-waivers-video.php?ref=fpb

Debunking the Right's Health Waiver Conspiracy

motherjones.com/mojo/2011/05/pelosi-district-health-care-waivers

[henryclay]

Morning Bell: How about a National Obamacare Waiver?Posted By Mike Brownfield On May 18, 2011 @ 9:28 am In Health Care |

If you knew a dangerous virus was about to hit America and that you could beg the government for a vaccine, you’d probably do it, wouldn’t you? That’s just what states and businesses alike are doing right now in preparation for Obamacare. But rather than seeking a vaccine, they’re asking for waivers from the law’s onerous requirements.

To date, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has approved 1,372 Obamacare waivers [1], covering 3.1 million [1] Americans. Yesterday, The Daily Caller reported [2] that among HHS’s most recent round of 204 Obamacare waivers, “38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Northern California district.” That’s right: Nearly 20 percent of exemptions from Pelosi’s crowning health care achievement were doled out in her backyard.

If that’s not enough irony for you, try this waiver on for size: On Monday, the Las Vegas Sun reported [3] that Nevada—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s home state—received a partial statewide Obamacare waiver, too. If you’re keeping score, Reid was Pelosi’s counterpart in the Senate fighting to get Obamacare passed into law. Now his state will be one of three [3] to get a waiver from the law’s requirements, while the rest of America suffers.
Why did Nevada get a waiver? The Sun reports that HHS found that some of the law’s implementation requirements “may lead to the destabilization of the individual market.” Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) said [3] that that’s all the more reason why Obamacare should be repealed:

It is becoming increasingly clear how flawed this law really is . . . Not only did it cut a half trillion dollars from Medicare, impacting thousands of Nevada’s seniors, now the law would have driven health insurers out of our state if a reprieve had not been granted . . . This is why ‘Obamacare’ will not work for Nevada.” (Insert thought here: If this is true for Nevada, is it not true for every other state also, and if so, why does only Nevada get a waiver?)
But Pelosi’s district and Reid’s home state aren’t the only ones getting waivers. There are others getting a break from the law, too—big corporations and labor unions [4].

All these waivers might sound like a lot to you, especially since most of the law’s provisions don’t take effect until 2014. But if you ask the White House, they’ll tell you that it’s no big deal. In a press briefing yesterday, press secretary Jay Carney downplayed the waivers and said [5] that it’s “not that many” and that “[t]he waiver is not a waiver of the law” but just a “provision of the law.” Well, that’s one way to spin it.

The Heritage Foundation’s Kathryn Nix explains why [6] some of the waivers are being granted:

Obamacare forbids insurers from placing annual and lifetime limits on health plans. These “consumer protections” have endangered the limited coverage plans that some employers currently offer. Unable to provide more comprehensive coverage, those employers would be forced to drop coverage altogether if they abide by the new law. To avoid this consequence of the new law, employers are flocking to secure the waivers offered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to keep their employees covered.

In the case of waivers for businesses, Heritage’s Ed Haislmaier recently testified [7] that the Obama Administration doesn’t really have the authority to grant them in the first place. In the case of state insurance markets, Congress explicitly allows a waiver, which is an admission that they knew the legislation would be disruptive.

It makes sense that labor unions, states and companies of all sizes want to escape Obamacare’s costly requirements. That’s because it’s clear that Obamacare already isn’t working, even though the law is barely out of the gate. But granting waivers here and there merely postpones the effects of the law for a couple of years. It’s not the solution America needs. A better idea would be to repeal Obamacare and grant America a permanent nationwide waiver.

See the original article and 58 comments at:

blog.heritage.org/2011/05/18/morning-bell-how-about-a-national-obamacare-waiver/print/