Obama White House CYA Move to Reduce impact of ObamaCare: McDonald's, 29 other firms get health care coverage waivers

Remember how Nancy Pelosi said this?



And remember Obama said this?



He said if you like your health care plan, you can keep it, right?

I had a simple question that I emailed to the White House 5 times without a response.

Question: What is to prevent an employer from unilaterally dropping an employee from a health care plan?

Well, I didn’t get an answer.

What a surprise?

My suspicion has always been that there was absolutely nothing preventing an employer from dropping all health care benefits even if it meant paying a fine under “ObamaCare” which would be cheaper than paying the expected increase in cost.

So technically Obama can claim he wasn’t lying like a dog for over a year and a half while he was trying to sell his healthcare debacle if everybody liked their plan, but got dropped anyway.

But, Obama got caught with his pants down in the final anbalysis when employers were threatening to go the “the drop coverage” route and to save the embarrassment of being called a liar after all, he gives out waivers to companies to avoid the true blowback by voters.

Maybe he’ll give out so many waivers to render Obamacare null and void in the process?

USA Today reports that mearly a million workers won't get a consumer protection in the U.S. health reform law meant to cap insurance costs because the government exempted their employers.

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.

More details here

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