More than 1,000 waivers granted for health care law
CBS/ AP
The waivers, which are typically granted to "mini-med" organizations that provide limited coverage and cannot meet the annual coverage limits mandated by the health care reform law, were meant as a stopgap measure to prevent a disruption in the insurance market upon implementation of the new legislation.
But many Republican lawmakers are pouncing on waivers as evidence of the argument that the law, which Obama signed into law in March 2010, is fundamentally flawed.
"I think it is an understatement to say that these waivers have been controversial," said Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, in a recent interview. "If they needed a waiver in 2011, won't they need a waiver in 2012, 2013?"
State-run insurance exchanges are scheduled to open in 2014, and annual dollar limits on "essential benefits" are expected to be phased out by then.
The Hill reports that less than 2 percent of privately insured individuals - or approximately 2.6 million people - are currently covered under the waivers.
HHS said in a January interview with the Hill that it had approved the majority of waiver requests, but that a number of organizations had been denied because they "did not demonstrate that compliance with the minimum annual limits requirements would significantly increase premiums or decrease access to benefits."
"The annual limit waiver process has been carried out in a way that reflects a commitment to transparency and responsible implementation," Steven Larsen, director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, told Dow Jones in an interview. "The overriding purpose of this waiver program is to ensure that Americans do not lose their health coverage before better health insurance options become available in 2014."
"I don't think we have created an unlevel playing field," Larsen said, of the accusation that unions and other groups were favored in the application process. "We handle the applications in an unbiased fashion."
HHS also said the number of waivers being granted has been steadily decreasing, according to the Hill, with more than 500 granted in December 2010, 200 granted in January, and 126 granted in February.
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Religious Conscious Exemptions
There are, however, some healthcare bill exemptions. First, the new law creates a religious conscience exemption for those who are members and faithful adherents of a recognized religious sect or division. The provision may exempt those individuals from the mandatory health insurance purchase requirement if they are members of religions that have established tenets or teachings that bar the "acceptance of the benefits of any private or public insurance."
The religious conscience exemption is defined as:http://www.newsonhealthcare.com/healthcare-bill-exemption/
"Practically no member of Congress even knew that $105 billion of funding was contained," Bachmann said in the video, then repeated on "Meet The Press."
and this from Whitehouse.gov
Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies
SUBJECT: Transparency and Open Government
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.
Every day I am amazed at the total ignorance of those on the right.
Ok, let's get this straight. The bill and or law passed with no support from Republicans, and now we need to give waivers to over 1000 companies. and you are amazed at the total ignorance of the right.
Wow, we are doomed.
The House, and Senate, voted this into law and President Obama signed the bill. This was done without the cooperation of the GOP economic terrorists who refused to participate effectively preventing them from voicing opinions on what should have been in the law. They blew that chance when the bill was being written.
Learn something about the process before supporting the terrorists by running down our Commander in Chief during war time.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++It was done without the cooperation of the repubs because the dems wanted nothing the repubs offered. Obama, in his normally confused fashion believs that bipartisan means you do things my way. And if this bill was such a great thing why did the dems have to bribe their own members to vote for it. This thing is a pile of crap.
It was the GOP that said "do it our way, or we won't play". Stop trying to re-write history enduro... it is so easy to debunk your long held, but still incorrect assumptions about the law.
Did you know that it is normal for members of the same party to negotiate (you call it "bribe") with other members in order to come to a consensus? That is fact.
Plus the Democrats do not walk in lock step, it is a big tent party -- conservatives, moderates and liberals may apply. If you are paying attention, the current GOP is having to draw the stakes out for their own tent in today's Congress. The same sort of negotiation or as you state, "bribery" is occurring right now in the GOP led House.
Why do you think it cintains 2,300 pages of doubletalk and imcludes items that have nothing to do with health care.
The entire law, all 2,300 pages, needs to be set on fire on the steps of the Capitol.
The Constitution does not allow for Obama to dictate to anyone that the government has the right to go into our personal finances, without permission and without any recourse on behalf of it's citizens.
This is just one example of Obamas' communistic attempts to take away even more of our rights.
If somebody doesn't get him out of the White House soon, we won't have any rights left at all.
His entire Presidency has been nothing but smoke and mirrors.
I think he got his education at David Copperfield University.
May 2010 CBO figures indicate that the health care bill will cost the US taxpayers $1 trillion in new spending over 10 years.
Insurance premiums for the majority of Americans will go up.
22 states are suing the federal government because of the unfunded mandates that impose $billions of additional Medicaid coverage ($billions that they can not afford).
If this bill is so great, why didn't the Democrat members of Congress be the first ones to place themselves under it? Nope, they exempted themselves and kept their "special" government health care.
This bill will bankrupt the United States, it will bankrupt states, it will kill jobs by the additional cost per employee that it imposes on employers, and it will cause the majority of suffering Americans to have higher insurance premiums. We simply can not afford this disaster in the making. We must repeal and replace this horrible bill.
The majority of Americans are against it, it was fashioned in corruption behind closed doors (instead of the promised CSPAN) where unions were given a different health care deal than the rest of us, and the 2700 bill containing convoluted distortions was passed without representatives even reading the bill prior to voting.
Wrong.
RobAla -- get some new lies. Your old ones are getting boring.
Did you think ALL liberals are on welfare and no conservatives receive government aid? Wow, that is just plain NOT thinking.