Health care changes driven by politics?

The presidential favoritism merry-go-round keeps on turning Obamacare waiver favors for “friends of the President.” This time it is the $63 fee per head.

About 20 million union members and their families with self-administered Taft-Hartley plans may not have to pay the per participant head tax. For union members with a family of four, they could save $252 in health costs in 2014.

The Affordable Care Act requires that a reinsurance fund be developed to protect insurance companies if their actual costs to provide insurance turn out to be more than expected. The legislation specified that $12 billion be set aside in 2014 along with $8 billion and $5 billion in the next couple years.

Earlier this year Health and Human Services issued regulations saying the cost will be charged on a per head basis. For 2014 HHS determined the per-head fee would be $63 for every American with a private health plan.

While this tax by statute is supposed to be universal, Administration officials previewed a regulation this month in the Federal Register indicating the fee would be waived for self-insured (Taft-Hartley) plans. The AFL-CIO along with the Teamsters helped lobby for ACA.

As a quid pro quo following months of lobbying from those same union organizations the administration has arranged for a carve-out as a favor for their support. By the way, everyone else will have to pay more the following year to cover the nut of the reinsurance pool going forward.

What new executive order or administration regulation will rewrite the provisions of the Affordable Care Act next month and into the future? Will the changes be driven by political favor or sound health care and insurance industry practices?

Somebody stop the Obamacare merry-go-round, I’m getting dizzy and noxious.

Mike Tennis

Sleepy Hollow