Obama's Health Care Plan
has given protection waivers to over 200 businesses
The Obama Administration has quietly granted even more waivers to one
provision of the new federal health reform law, doubling the number in just
the last three weeks to a new total of 222.
One of the more recognizable business names included on the newly-expanded
list of waivers issued by the feds is that of Waffle House, which received a
waiver on November 23 for health coverage that covers 3,947 enrollees.
Another familiar name was that of Universal Orlando, which runs a variety of
very popular resorts in the Orlando, Florida area. Universal was given a
waiver for plans that cover 668 workers.
These waivers deal with limited health benefit plans, sometimes referred to
as "mini-med" policies, which companies as large as McDonald's use for some
its employees.
The plan have limits on how much can be paid out in coverage, limits which
would be phased out under the new health reform law.
The feds though have granted waivers from that law, amid concern that
certain groups would drop their health insurance programs entirely. Those
waivers are good for one year, and can be considered for renewal.
A spokeswoman for Waffle House refused to explain the need for the waiver,
saying "because Waffle House is a private company, we are going to decline
to comment."
As for Universal Orlando, a spokesman defended the waiver in an email on
Monday evening.
"The new legislation would have left our part-time workers without their
medical coverage," said Tom Schroder of Universal Orlando Public Relations.
"We sought the waiver so that we could continue to provide them with the
coverage they need and deserve," Schroder added.
The information on the waivers, which is buried deep on the web site of the
U.S. Health & Human Services Department, shows that since it was last
updated in mid-November, the number of waivers issued has gone from 111 to
222, covering organizations as diverse as the "Catholic Charities of the
Diocese of Ogdensburg" to the "Pearson Candy Company."
You can find a list of all of the 222 waivers at
http://is.gd/iiw3u
Several weeks ago, critics singled out a number of unions which had received
government approval for exemptions from certain provisions of the law
dealing with annual medical spending limit requirements.
And there are more unions who have received waivers in this latest batch,
like the Bricklayers Local 1 of MD, VA and DC, the United Food and
Commercial Workers Union in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, the Indiana Teamsters
Health Benefits Fund, Service Employees International Union Local 1
Cleveland Welfare Fund, and more are listed.
The waivers are also going to a number of average sounding companies like
Telesis Management Corporation, Trans-System Inc., Varsity Contractors Inc.
and Moore's Retread & Tire of the Ark-La-Tex, Inc.
One of the central selling points for supporters of the federal health
reform law was that it would prohibit health insurance companies from
setting limits - yearly or lifetime - on how much in benefits could be paid
out under a health insurance policy.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), criticized McDonald's and other companies for burying the nitty-gritty
details of the limited health care coverage for employees in the fine print
of the health care brochures.
"More than a million Americans wake up and go to work every day thinking
they have health insurance. But they don't," said Rockefeller.
The waivers seem likely to draw hearings in the House next year for a
different reason, as Republicans demand to know why Democrats would push so
hard for health reform legislation, only to see the feds issue several
hundred waivers from some of the details.
Jamie Duprees Washington Insider December 7, 2010, by Jamie Dupree
http://blogs.ajc.com/jamie-dupree-washington-insider/2010/12/07/more-health-waivers/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWS ARCHIVES NOVEMBER 2010
McDonald's and 29 other firms get health care coverage
waivers just before November Elections
Obama promised "no one would lose their health coverage" under his Obamacare plan. Now
less than a month before the election over 1 million people would have lost
the health care coverage they've got. The Liberal Media won't tell you that
they got an exemption.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thirty companies and organizations, including McDonald's (MCD) and Jack in
the Box (JACK), won't be required to raise the minimum annual benefit
included in low-cost health plans, which are often used to cover part-time
or low-wage employees.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which provided a list of
exemptions, said it granted waivers in late September so workers with such
plans wouldn't lose coverage from employers who might choose instead to drop
health insurance altogether.
Without waivers, companies would have had to provide a minimum of $750,000
in coverage next year, increasing to $1.25 million in 2012, $2 million in
2013 and unlimited in 2014.
"The big political issue here is the president promised no one would lose
the coverage they've got," says Robert Laszewski, chief executive officer of
consulting company Health Policy and Strategy Associates. "Here we are a
month before the election, and these companies represent 1 million people
who would lose the coverage they've got."
The United Agricultural Benefit Trust, the California-based cooperative that
offers coverage to farm workers, was allowed to exempt 17,347 people. San
Diego-based Jack in the Box's waiver is for 1,130 workers, while McDonald's
asked to excuse 115,000.
The plans will be exempt from rules intended to keep people from having to
pay for all their care once they reach a preset coverage cap. McDonald's,
which offers the programs as a way to cover part-time employees, told the
Obama administration it might re-evaluate the plans unless it got a waiver.
McDonald's and Jack in the Box didn't immediately respond to requests for
comment.
The waiver program is intended to provide continuous coverage until 2014,
when government-organized marketplaces will offer insurance subsidized by
tax credits, says HHS spokeswoman Jessica Santillo.
The regulations would have hit some insurance plans for young adults in the
universal coverage program run by the state of Massachusetts. The program,
enacted in 2006, has a plan for individuals ages 18 to 26 who can't get
coverage through work, covering about 5,000 people. The waiver obtained by
the state "will give us time to implement the transition plan in a manner
designed to mitigate premium increases," says Dick Powers, a spokesman for
the state program.
The biggest single waiver, for 351,000 people, was for the United Federation
of Teachers Welfare Fund, a New York union providing coverage for city
teachers. The waivers are effective for a year and were granted to insurance
plans and companies that showed that employee premiums would rise or that
workers would lose coverage without them, Santillo says.
By Drew Armstrong, Bloomberg Business News
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