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Daily Events...
A Thousand Waivers
Controlling
the lifeboats of a ship that was designed to sink.
by John Hayward
03/09/2011
There are over a thousand waivers granting exemptions from the
ObamaCare disaster now. Among the latest recipients is the entire
state of Maine, which scored a valuable exemption from the requirement
that every insurance company must “spend 80 cents to 85 cents of every
premium dollar on medical care and quality improvement,” as reported by
CNBC.
This was deemed necessary because “one of three major insurers offering
individual plans in Maine would withdraw from the market altogether if
the federal requirement remained in place,” a development that could
end up “destabilizing the Maine individual market,” in the judgment of
a federal Health and Human Services bureaucrat.
Kentucky, Nevada, and New Hampshire are looking for similar
waivers. Residents of other states are screwed.
No one outside the secret candle-lit council chambers of King Obama has
any idea how these waivers are granted. An awful lot of them go
to the big labor unions that form the true core constituency of the
Democrat Party. House Energy and Commerce chairman Fred Upton
(R-MI) demanded an explanation earlier this year, but Health and Human
Services ignored him and sent forth its robed and hooded clergy to
issue several hundred fresh indulgences.
This blizzard of waivers is more than just an annoying example of
government playing favorites. It betrays the basic rationale
behind ObamaCare, which is that health care is a “basic human
right.” Since not everyone can afford to pay for it, but everyone
must receive it, a collectivist solution was designed. Insurance
companies would be compelled to cover everyone, including those with
“pre-existing conditions.” Since this would create an obvious
incentive for people to hold off on buying health insurance until they
grew seriously ill, the “individual mandate” was conceived, violating
the Constitution to force every citizen to purchase health insurance
that meets the government’s standards.
In other words, everyone would be compelled to purchase health
insurance from private companies, whose profits would be greatly
reduced because of coverage mandates, but their revenue stream would
now be guaranteed by the individual mandate. Insurance companies
would essentially become welfare agencies, while the cost of health
care would be socialized and spread across the entire population.
This was justified on the moral grounds that before ObamaCare everyone
paid for the health care of the indigent anyway, through an inefficient
and confusing system of “cost shifting.” Since society as a whole
benefits from universal access to the “basic human right” of health
care, the Left thinks it’s fair to total up the cost and spread it
across the entire population.
But now we’ve got over a thousand waivers to ObamaCare, including one
that applies to an entire state. Everyone is not paying for
government-run health insurance, at least not equally. Some
corporate and union entities are granted permission to step outside the
system. What kind of “universal” solution doesn’t apply to
everyone?
Have you ever seen anything as outlandish as a massive national program
with a thousand waivers? Of course you have. Almost every
regulation and mandate imposed by Big Government comes with waivers and
loopholes.
The tax system is the most obvious example. The government has
been in the business of granting “waivers” from taxation for a very
long time. Exemptions are granted for various behaviors the
government wishes to subsidize. Favored corporate entities are
excused from paying huge amounts of tax. The federal tax code is
even larger, more confusing, and more riddled with contradictions than
ObamaCare. Every tax season, we are treated to stories about the
appalling number of tax questions that IRS agents cannot answer
correctly.
The true value of waivers to the politician is measured in
control. Favored constituents can be rewarded for loyal political
support. The private sector can be alternately compelled and
encouraged to do things the government is not allowed to do, or doesn’t
want to be caught doing. The State becomes a senior partner to
every business, and an older brother to every citizen, carefully
guiding them through the maze of penalties and subsidies it has created.
Discussing the waivers granted to certain types of minimal health
insurance with The Hill, HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, “we
don’t want to take away people’s health insurance before they have some
realistic other choices.” This illustrates another political
value for the waiver: it allows the government to pose as a hero,
rescuing citizens from a problem the government itself created.
There are no “universal” government solutions, and there never will
be. There is too much power to be gained by granting sanctuary
from the brilliant schemes of politicians. ObamaCare is a ship
that was designed to sink. The President’s people control access
to the lifeboats.
Read it at Daily Events
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