And Another one Makes the List!

 

Add another Tea Party liar to the Palin-Perry-Bachmann list!

This from Politifact - the conservative fact checker, whom I applaud for being truthful even when it hurts!

     "On the last morning of the government shutdown and debt ceiling standoff, the conservative lawmakers who took the hardest line in the showdown stood firm even as they faced defeat. One of them, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., said it was all worthwhile given the principle at stake. (my thoughts here: This imbecile thinks a $24 billion [by CBO estimates] showboat tactic which shut down the government was "worth it" in support of a lie?)

Asked on CBS News what that principle was, Mulvaney said it was about fairness under Obamacare.

"Our question, for the last three weeks, has been, ‘Why is it not evenly applied across all the citizens?’ " Mulvaney said. The president, he said, "has given 1,100 special waivers to his friends. Now he gave it most recently to large corporations. All we have been asking for the last two and a half weeks is that those same exemptions apply to our families."

(me again: That statement begs further analysis! When was the last time, if ever, that you heard a Congressman or anyone else refer to the President as a "friend" to large corporations? Me neither. The companies in question, some of which are large, tend to be those, such as fast food vendors,  who employee lower end wage earners, so the "what about our families" whine is false as stated because the companies granted the waivers were granted them to avoid having lower wage earning families lose their insurance, and the waiver has a shelf life of as of today. 76 days!)  


Here, we’ll examine whether President Barack Obama "has given 1,100 special waivers to his friends."

This is a claim that Mulvaney’s political allies have made several times. Groups such as the Christian Coalition have circulated it, although the exact number sometimes varies. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said "almost 1,100 waivers." Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said it was over 1,200. We reached out to Mulvaney’s office to get the details but didn’t hear back.

Our research took us (as well as our fact checking colleagues at the Washington Post) to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The waivers in question have to do with private insurance plans that cost very little but cap the total amount they will pay at less than $1.25 million in a single year. The limits can be considerably less. There are plans that don’t pay more than $2,000 and even one that stops at $300.

That threshold matters because one big thing the Affordable Care Act does is set minimum standards for health insurance -- including the elimination of annual caps by 2014. The law says there can be no limits, but it left it to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to set rules for how to transition to that goal. Those rules said that as of 2011, every plan had to pay at least $1.25 million, and as of 2014, with very few exceptions, there could be no annual limits at all.

But even putting the transition on a glide path created a potential dilemma, especially for large firms that hire many low-wage workers. Faced with having to improve their coverage quickly, there was a chance that many employers would instead drop the insurance altogether. To avoid leaving those workers with no insurance at all, HHS set up a way for companies and insurance plans to apply for waivers. (ed: Those bastards!)

Who got a waiver?

(My note here: in typical fashion, the Tea Baggers take a reasonable idea out of context, inflate the political significance, if any, beyond all reason and make it personal, aimed at the President. Notice, that even though over half of the members of both houses of Congress voted to enact this law, it’s all the fault of the President, and his “friends.” This is frequently a code word for minority/person of color, etc.  Read the next paragraphs closely to 1) learn something about the ACA and 2) confirm your worst opinions regarding the ability of the far right to tell the truth.)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tallies who has been granted a waiver, and who applied but was denied. At last count, the total number of waivers was 1,231. So Mulvaney’s has actually undercounted somewhat.
However, his use of the term "friends" is more questionable. Here is a sample of some of the recipients: Baptist Retirement Homes of North Carolina, (me again: Really? “Southern Baptists for Obama?” I  doubt it.) Pepsi,  The Wyoming Lodging and Restaurant Association, Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, Wendy’s, McDonald’s.
The common denominator seems to be who these firms hire -- low-wage workers. If "friendship" played a role, it’s hard to discern. And it’s not clear that these are major political allies of the president, either.

On the other hand, some unions -- which usually lean Democratic -- were on the list as well. We found about 450 plans that serve union workers -- roughly a third of the total.

HOWEVER!

That having been said,, 144 groups were denied a waiver, and union plans were included on that list as well. Plans could reapply and some did. In general, if a plan reapplied, it then got a waiver. Unions show up a lot in this group, but some ultimately were turned down.

We should also note that Mulvaney called these "special waivers." But by and large, whoever applied tended to get approved. That doesn’t seem particularly special to us.

(me again: note the next sentence, which means that any “special deals were temporary at best to give businesses time to get into compliance, even if they were special, which they aren’t) All of these waivers expire as of Jan. 1, 2014.

Our ruling:

Mulvaney said that under Obamacare, the president "has given 1,100 special waivers to his friends."

He’s close on the number, but it’s wrong to say that all (or even most) went to his "friends" or political allies. It’s also doubtful that any of these were "special," since the option was widely publicized and mostly granted when applied for.

We rate the claim Mostly False."  

My last word: The only thing that keeps this from a "pants on Fire "  rating is that the number of waivers is close, evrything else is a lie.