Monday, April 04, 2011

A Billion here, a Billion there, pretty soon...

Last fall, we posted an email conversation with one of our readers, the subject of which was the fact that retiree health plans are "exempt from certain PPACA requirements."

Turns out, that word "exempt" is only a part of the story:

"Investigators ... have discovered that a little-known provision in [ObamaCare©] 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."

Ahem.

About that "little-known provision;" some of us not only knew about it, but actually reported on it over half a year ago:

"The folks in Washington that gave us the "bridge to nowhere" have done it again, this time with health insurance ... (Early Retirement Reinsurance Program) as announced by HHS is supposed to make it easier for employers to provide health insurance to early retirees. Congress authorized $5 billion of money they did not have to fund this program until 2014."

So, according to the Examiner, 40% of the funding for this program has already been paid out, with 3 years worth of retirees still in the wings. At this rate, the program will be bust in about half that time.

What then?
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