Hidden Bailout of Unions and Big Corporations in ObamaCare
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HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius & House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Celebrate
Health Care Law H.R. 3590 with Obama |
More "Unintended Consequences" from Obamacare.
Investigators for the House Energy and Commerce Committee have discovered that a little-known provision in the national health care law has allowed the federal government to pay nearly $2 billion to unions, state public employee systems, and big corporations to subsidize health coverage costs for early retirees. At the current rate of payment the $5 billion appropriated for the program may soon be depleted.
The discovery came on the eve of an oversight hearing focused on the workings the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIO), which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Section 1102 of the Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), which created something called the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program. The legislation called for the program to spend a total of $5 billion, beginning in June 2010, shortly after Obamacare was passed.
The idea was to subsidize unions, states, and companies that had made unsustainable commitments to provide health insurance for workers who retired between the ages of 55 and 64. UAW has received $206 million while AT&T got $140 million. State public unions also got the bailout with the public retirement systems in Texas and Ohio getting tens of millions of dollars. Read More