Catching Up With Mr. Barnum

When we last left P.T., rubes were jumping off the ObamaCare bandwagon as fast as they could. What’s happened since then?

Well, first thanks to Jamie Dupree,  we’ve discovered 129 new waivers, mostly given to unions, such as:

Teamsters Local 237 in New York, covering over 51,000 workers

Carpenters District Council of Kansas City Welfare Plan, for 20,898 workers

Southeastern Iron Workers, for 5,143 policies

Minneapolis Retail Meat Cutters and Food Handlers for 10,720

the Fulton Fish Market Welfare Fund for 1,211

That brings the total to 1,168. I just love it when the same law applies to everyone equally. Don’t you?

But wait. That’s not even the best part. We also discovered some nice things inside the ObamaCare bill that no one bothered to read. Again, we have Jamie Dupree to thank for a nice summation.

Facing questions from both parties in the Congress, the Obama Administration has now revealed how it has spent over $1.7 billion on part of the Obama health law, known as the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program.

This plan is intended to help companies pay the cost of health care for their early retirees, but lawmakers say it is wrongly benefiting companies like AT&T and General Electric, who have billions in profits on their bottom lines.

[…]

Here is the list of unions, companies, state and local governments and other business entities who received money under the Obama health law for their early retiree health programs:

United Auto Workers Retiree Medical Benefits Trust	206,798,086
AT&T, Inc.	140,022,949
Verizon Communications Inc.	91,702,538
Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio	70,557,764
Teacher Retirement System of Texas	68,074,118
Georgia Department of Community Health	57,936,127
California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS)	57,834,267
State of New York	47,869,044
State of New Jersey Treasury Department, Pension Accounting Services Department	38,622,698
General Electric Company	36,607,818
Employees Retirement System of Texas	30,175,627
Commonwealth of Kentucky	29,666,516
South Carolina Budget & Control Board Employee Insurance Program	27,142,502
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania	24,522,631
State of Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System	22,620,604
State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio	20,334,357
State of Michigan	20,247,338
General Motors, LLC	19,002,669

 

…

The list is much longer. Go to Jamie’s page for the whole list. I just did a few from the top. These are organizations that are getting taxpayer $ to fund their retiree programs. You’re paying UAW’s retirement benefits. So, not only is  ObamaCare taking money from me again for non-public use, but it’s giving it to selected organizations.

ObamaCare isn’t about health care. It’s about taking your money, and giving it to the people that Obama likes. Obama and the Executive Branch get to pick and choose who gets rewarded and how. Please, someone…anyone, explain to me how this is fair and why anyone with a functioning brain should be in favor of this and support it.

I still say that if you do, you’re either one of the lucky people getting the payouts, or you’re the one that P.T. Barnum is looking for.