STEARNS ASKS WHY SO MANY WAIVERS ARE NEEDED TO PROTECT COMPANIES, UNIONS, STATES, AND INSURERS FROM PROVISIONS OF HEALTH CARE LAW
 

Washington, Feb 16 -

“In pushing the health care law, President Obama said that if you like your coverage, that you could keep it – we are finding that this is not the case – also, if Obamacare is so good, why are states, corporations, and states needing waivers,” stated Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Chairman of the Energy & Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.  “While promised lower premiums and lower costs, they instead are getting lost coverage, higher premiums, and higher costs. Waivers are granted to those who demonstrate that the health care law would cause higher premium costs or reduced access to benefits, and HHS has now had to grant protection from the harmful effects of Obamacare to four states, major corporations, and numerous unions. That adds up to 915 waivers, so far, with more to come.  Those 915 waivers cover 2.4 million people. That’s 2.4 million people that would have lost their coverage due to Obamacare, if HHS hadn’t granted them waivers from the onerous effects of the Administration’s mandates in the health care law.”

Stearns today conducted a hearing on these controversial waivers with witnesses from the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), which is responsible for providing or denying these waivers. In response to a question from Stearns about how many states have received a waiver, Steve Larsen, Deputy Administration and Director for the CCIO responded, “I can confirm Ohio, Tennessee, Florida and there may be one more.”  It later was confirmed that New York also has applied for a waiver and will likely receive it.

Stearns also noted that the financial burden of the health care law will increase each year until its full implementation in 2014. Asked Stearns, “If we have all these requests for waivers in 2011, what will happen in the years 2012, 2013, and 2014 when the coverage benefits increase dramatically?  Has there been an economic analysis?”  Larsen responded that no economic analysis has been conducted by the Administration.

Concluded Stearns, “The Chief Actuary for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently testified that the law will likely not hold down costs.  He went on to say that not everyone will be able to keep their coverage, even if they like it. Obamacare is not delivering the results as advertised and there is great uncertainty about its future impact.”