If Obamacare is supposed to be such a great thing for America, why are so many companies and various organizations being granted exemptions? Why do so many of those who have sought the exemptions — like unions, for example — just happen to be supporters of Obama and liberal democratic policies? Could it be that liberals just love to make laws for everyone else, love to make everyone else but themselves pay?
I do not know how many companies and groups have applied for exemptions from Obamacare, but the list of entities who have been granted an exemption is growing quickly. A look at the page now shows that, as of December 3, 2010 there were 733 approved exemptions. That’s a total of 2,189,636 American workers that will not suffer the consequences of Obamacare. Keep in mind that the date on this report is two months ago. Who knows what the number is today. You can view the entire list at this website, and perhaps it will be more current by the time you click through to it.
Perhaps John Boehner should change his strategy to repeal Obamacare, and instead just sit back and wait until all of America is exempt. But the problem is the likely outcome would be that only half the country would be exempt — the blue half.
So, how does one obtain an exemption to Obamacare? Is it all based upon the stated criteria, or are there other factors left unwritten? A cynic might conclude there could be some political favors being handed out, when you see the number of unions in the list.
If you browse through the list, you’ll find the names quite interesting. On one hand, there are huge groups like the 19,000 workers belonging to the “Communications Workers of America, Local 1180 Security Benefits Fund.” But on the other hand, there are some small companies like the Sieben Polk Law, a firm of personal injury lawyers in Minnesota, as you see in the screen capture below.
Not that I would suspect anything out of the ordinary, but I thought I’d look more closely at Sieben Polk, just for the heck of it, since it seems like such a small company to be on this list. Just the curious blogger that I am, looking through public information.
In my searching of the web, one of the first things Google showed me was a political contributions page for partner Michael Sieben. I pulled it up, and golly, It showed that he donated over $20,000 to the Obama Victory Fund.
But I don’t know why I really even bothered to mention this insignificant, and I’m certain, unrelated tidbit. I’m sure the Sieben Polk Law firm has a good reason to have an approved exemption from the landmark healthcare program passed into law by the president to whose 2008 campaign fund partner Michael Sieben donated $20,000. Never mind. Let’s move on.
Pass me the Kool-Aid and Prozac, please.
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All the more reason for the Republicans to repeal the whole kit and kaboodle!!!
ZGjobf http://gdjI3b7VaWpU1m0dGpvjRrcu9Fk.com
Why, why why do we keep doing what we accuse others of doing: Not being transparent or entirely honest? Anyone reding this headline would be misled into thinking there are actual exemptions – period! A temporary 1 year waiver in favor of the insufficiently covered individual until proper coverage is the law is not an “exemption from Obamacare”.
I mean you know that the fact that so many waivers are necessary to protect people is a symptom of the larger issue. They are waivers for mini-med plans where the insured person is badly insured at a high cost, and the waiver demands that the individual be clearly made aware that they are receiving bad coverage. Because a particular lawyer who runs a firm donated money to a campaign clearly does not mean the success of said campaign will benefit him/her. Either this particular business can’t afford better healthcare (most small business’ can’t afford any) or they are greedy. They should not be in either position. Nor should unions. What is it about an administration that passes a law to provide a human necessity above favoring it’s donors make you need Kool-Aid and Prozac?
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