Now, I know I’m late to the game on this, but the recent news about more waivers being granted for Obamacare caused me to dive into it again and have a second and third look. First I was wondering about the connections some of the companies had with democrats or democrat-supporting organizations or people, but then you don’t have to research to find that out for a lot of them; it’s right there in their names: this “Union,” that “Brotherhood,” this “Guild,” etc., etc., etc.

I started noticing not who the waivers were granted to, but at the number of employees some of them listed. Aren’t these waivers granted so that the companies/organizations won’t bear an undue burden financially? If you have ZERO or 3 employees, why in the world would you need the waiver?

The HHS has broken the waivers down to separate lists. On the list for “Self-Insured Employers,” it describes the waivers thusly:

“Self-Insured Employers: Approved Applications for Waiver of the Annual Limits Requirements. This is a list of self-insured employers that have received waivers of the annual dollar limit requirements for group health plans offered to their employees.”

So let’s just take a look at a few of these shall we?

Some place called “Maverick County” has 1 enrollee. “Captain Elliot’s Party Boats” has 10 enrollees. “Big Valley Labor PRM Health Plan” has 4 enrollees. “Pacific Risk Management” has 3 enrollees. The “Town of Frisco” has 8 enrollees. It goes on and on.

The next list is for “Health Reimbursement Arrangements,” which is described as this:

“Health Reimbursement Arrangements: Approved Applications for Waiver of the Annual Limits Requirements. Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) are employer-funded group health plans where employees are reimbursed tax-free for qualified medical expenses up to a fixed dollar amount per year, and unused amounts may be rolled over to be used in subsequent years.”

Let’s take a peek at a few of these.

Something called “FIDUCIA” has 2 enrollees. “Alizio & Galfunt” has 4 enrollees. “Cargo Ventures” has 2 enrollees. “Hypex, Inc.” has ONE enrollee. (Really? ONE enrollee? Wow.) And “United Transportation Union GCA 225” has 2 enrollees. *sigh*

Now we get to the interesting stuff. From the list for “State-Mandated Policies,” the waiver list is described as such:

“State-Mandated Policies: Approved Applications for Waiver of the Annual Limits Requirements. In some States, issuers are required to offer standardized policies with specific annual dollar limits established by State law. These State-mandated annual limits are below the minimum annual limit set by HHS. In such instances, States may apply for a waiver of the annual dollar limit requirements on behalf of issuers of State-mandated policies if State law required the policies to be offered by the issuers prior to September 23, 2010. Although the State may apply on the issuers’ behalf, the application must still satisfy the standard that compliance of the annual dollar limit requirements by the issuers would result in a “significant decrease in access to benefits” or a “significant increase in premiums.””

The following entities have ZERO enrollees listed:

• Companion Life Insurance Co.
• John Alden Life Ins. Co.
• Mid West National Life Ins. Co. of TN
• National Found Life Ins. Co.
• Reserve National Ins. Co.
• Standard Life & Accident Ins. Co.

There are others with only 1 or 2 enrollees, so what is it that I’m not getting? If you have ZERO enrollees, how are you going to suffer a “significant increase in premiums?”

This whole things just STINKS to high heaven to me. I just pray that Republicans (true conservative Republicans) regain control of the Senate, and we get a SOLID conservative in the White House in 2012. We have to repeal this monstrosity before it does any more damage than it already has done. I have a very dear friend who works at a V.A. Clinic, and the horror stories she tells me about how they “take care of” pateints there is unbelievable. Yet if we do not repeal Obamacare, I’m afraid that’s the kind of “care” we’ll all be forced to have.

Shame on us, America, for having let things get this far. We have been very bad stewards of our own liberty.