HHS approves 200 more new healthcare reform waivers
The Obama administration approved 204 new waivers to Democrats' healthcare reform law over the past month, bringing the total to 1,372.
The waivers are temporary and only apply to one provision of the law, which requires health plans to offer at least $750,000 worth of annual medical benefits before leaving patients to fend for themselves. Still, Republicans have assailed the waivers as a sign of both favoritism and of major problems with the law.
"The fact that over 1,000 waivers have been granted is a tacit admission that the healthcare law is fundamentally flawed," Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said in March. Upton is one of three House committee chairmen who has used new oversight powers to investigate the annual limit waivers.
Administration officials say the law allows the Health and Human Services Department to grant the waivers to avoid disrupting the insurance market before the law overhauls the insurance system in 2014. They say the waivers are granted through a transparent process.
"A transparent process..." they say. Well, it is transparently clear that the process sucks, and needs to be done away with. We can reform healthcare in this country without Obamacare.
This is hardly the proof you're looking for. Waivers were built into the PPACA to provide relief for some companies that won't meet requirements during the transition period. The full law goes into effect in 2014 and at that time these waivers go away.
ReplyDeleteThe waivers are granted to any company that applies and meets requirements.