Surprise! Union Health Plans Exempt from ObamaCare

Remember the recently leaked Gov't estimate that ObamaCare regulations will force 51% of all employers, including 66% percent of small firms, to relinquish their current health care plans by Jan. 1, 2014? That report came after Obama pushed passage of his unconstitutional health insurance mandate with his promise that, under ObamaCare, Americans could keep their health insurance plans if they liked them.

Guess what? Government and other union workers won't be feeling the ObamaCare pain that other workers will. Non-government and other non-union workers will face health insurance caps, limits, and mandates, but unions will be free to shop around for good deals without the limitations faced by others. That reality changes the distribution of the people facing loss of their health insurance, meaning that up to 80% of employees of small firms will lose their insurance while gov't workers and other union workers get to keep theirs, or trade up. As Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) points out, this stealth legislative measure will "shelter unions from any negative consequences from ObamaCare, while putting the cost and burden on everyday hard-working Americans."

According to unions, though, this is business as usual. I think that observation is correct. As Gerry Shea of the AFL-CIO says, "It's just boiler-plate stuff. . . . This is typical for any major change in federal law that affects employee benefits. Not just health care, but other ones too."
 
What a deal! No matter what crazy policies gov't workers initiate or help administer, these workers rest assured that the usual "boiler plate stuff" will protect them from personally suffering the consequences. If 70% or 80% of American employees are kicked off their health insurance plans, so what? Only the suckers suffer. Government workers and other union workers keep their plans. And those are mighty good plans, too.

Personally, I wouldn't count too much on those protections. They'll have increasingly limited usefulness as the economy continues its downward slide and the health care system and medical research as we know them unravel. A rising tide lifts all boats, but a falling tide leaves every little craft dry on the sand.

No, it's not going to be all bread and roses for government and union workers. To paraphrase the famous quote of Sir Thomas More in the film, A Man for All Seasons: "It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world . . . but for ObamaCare?"
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