HHS grants 500 new healthcare waivers - The Hill's Healthwatch

What the hell is the point of having a law if everyone and their grandmother can get a waiver from the law. HHS grants 500 new healthcare waivers to organizations who might not be able to make the minimum coverage levels.

The law gives HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the flexibility to grant waivers to avoid disruption in the insurance market, but Republicans say the waivers are either gifts to Democratic allies or proof that the reform law isn’t working. However, a large number of businesses, in addition to unions, have received waivers.

The waivers have been granted to hundreds of so-called "mini-med" plans that offer limited health coverage to employees. The waivers are designed to preserve stability in the insurance market until new state-run insurance exchanges open in 2014.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee asked HHS last week for details on the waiver process. HHS said Wednesday night that it wants to make the waiver process transparent.

Now, pardon me for asking, but if you knew that there might be a need for these waivers, and the Obama Administration wanted to avoid "disruption" in the insurance market (aside the the intentional disruption of interfereing in the marketplace), then why not make sure the state run exchanges were up and running BEFORE you started requiring businesses meet the minimum coverage levels.

This is the kind of crap logical inconsistencies you get when you don't think about the law or even read the law before enacting it.

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