Obama Health Care

A New York teacher’s union, Jack in the Box and McDonald’s are just a few of the companies recently exempted from certain Obama health care rules.  According to the Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s was considering dropping health care coverage available to approximately 30,000 employees if some of the new health care rules were not bent by the Obama administration.  Officials with HHS and McDonald’s denied this story.  Apparently, there are some rules in Obama health care that companies feel they cannot afford.

Although the Obama administration says these waivers are simply a stopgap measure, critics warn that allowing certain companies to be exempt from the rules could result in employees losing their health care coverage.  According to these critics, the reputation of Obama health care suffers when the president issues waivers to certain companies that make threats regarding skyrocketing premiums under the new law.

Robert Laszewski, CEO of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, stated to Bloomberg New that the huge political issue raised is that Obama made promises that individuals would not lose the coverage they presently have, and now, just a month prior to the election, the companies being exempted represent 1 million people who would do just that – lose their present coverage.

Obama health care has banned the type of low-benefit insurance similar to that offered by McDonald’s, which has a benefit cap of $2,000 per year.

A New York teacher’s union, the United Federation of Teachers, is the largest beneficiary of the waiver put in place recently under Obama health care.  This union is one of the Presidents key political backers.  The 30 companies, unions and health insurers approved for federal waivers will not be required to gradually phase out limits on annual health coverage like everyone else will be required to do.

Patrick Semmens, spokesman for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, stated that big labor spent millions of dollars promoting Obama health care, which is stuffed full of union giveaways.

A few of the other companies that received waivers from certain rules pertaining to Obama health care include Aetna, BCS Insurance Group, Denny’s and CIGNA.

Under Obama health care, individuals who do not have health care coverage with their employers will be able to buy health insurance from marketplaces that are subsidized by tax credits by the year 2014.  Fines will be imposed on those large employers who do not cover employees adequately.

It seems that when it comes to Obama health care, some companies and organizations get preferential treatment.

Mark South
Obama Health Care

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