Shocked by the 511 New Obamacare Waivers?—Expect More to Come!

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)announced that it has granted an additional 511 new waivers from the annual limit requirements of Obamacare. Under the new law, plans that begin on or after September 23, 2010 will be required to raise their annual claims limit to at least $750,000. Many plans, particularly those owned by low wage earners, can't meet this requirement.

Many seem shocked that 511 new waivers have been granted in addition to the 222 that HHS reported last month. And they should be!

But don't be surprised. In fact, expect more waivers to come.

We reported October 12, 2010 that, buried in a little know document called an Information Collection Request, HHS predicted on October 7th that it would receive 1,500 waiver requests.

The waivers that have been granted so far are only for plans that began between September 23, 2010 and January 1, 2011. We have not yet seen the number of waivers for plans beginning between January 2, 2011 and September 22, 2011.

While there is yet no evidence that HHS has discriminated in granting these waivers, they evidence the new Obamacare way of government. Under the Obamacare system, the federal government is granted not only sweeping power, but also the discretion to decide whether to grant a waiver, and thus whether your health care plan lives or dies.

The Obamacare system of government is great for lawyers and lobbyists. But it drains the resources of insurance companies, drug manufactures, hospitals, small businesses, and doctors who must hire them to petition HHS to limit its power.