[BigV]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Most of those getting waivers are political supporters of Obama, and as the article so nicely points out, most of them either exist within the same voting blocks as major Demoncratic political players or are Union oriented.

If Obamacare was so bad for these people how can it be good for the rest of us who don't get waivers? Isn't Obamacare suppose to operate by everyone participating?

If Obamacare is to be supported by the participation of all, why should anyone get a pass and a waiver?

Originally Posted by classicman

That makes sense, but I think it is also appropriate to see if the organizations that are getting temporary waivers have a large population which would impact things or whatever. It may be more out of curiosity, but still I think looking at who they are is one aspect and the number of people is another. Both important yet not mutually exclusive either.

Alright, mercy. I'm calling you out. Let's have your cite to support your claim "most of those getting waivers are political supporters of Obama". Put up or shut up. I've given everyone the link that lists the 700-odd organizations that have gotten waivers. I'll repeat it here: http://www.hhs.gov/ociio/regulations...or_waiver.html Now, which of them are "political supporters of Obama"? And how can you show that? Because it has the words "Local 123" in the name? By the way, let us keep in mind that it is the ORGANIZATION that gets the waiver, not individuals, not actual voters.

Furthermore, the implication of some kind of political favoritism, the illogic of such a claim based on this "evidence" cuts both ways. Why aren't you saying that the other eleventy-zillion businesses that DIDN'T get waivers are McCain/Palin supporters? Ridiculous, right? Or, let's do the math on it. Let's say all of the 733 waiver-receiver are all Obama-bots. He raised about $745 MILLION dollars for his 2008 campaign. Are you saying each of these outfits kicked in over a million dollars for his campaign? No? Then what about me? Where's my political payoff? **I** voted for him! I want my whateverwaiver.

I explained already the reasons for a waiver. There's no political affiliation checkbox that I know of. If you're suggesting there is, you should prove it.

Also--at that same link, you'll see that for each outfit that got a waiver, the number of people covered by the organization's plan is also listed. There are a few of them that have thousands of covered people, but the majority of them have only hundreds, not big outfits. Small plans, small populations, small scale, small dollar, small market. There are four oufits with large populations > 100,000 and two outfits with >= 50,00 and < 100,000 enrollees. All the other 727 waiver recipients have fewer than 50,000 enrollees, most of them far fewer.

CIGNA	                                                265,000
United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund	        351,000
Aetna 	                                                209,423
BCS Insurance	                                        115,000
WageWorks, Inc	                                         50,000
American Heritage Life Insurance Company	         69,945

That's a little over a million enrollees, leaving the rest of the 727 to divvy up the remaining million enrollees.

Honestly? I doubt this post will change any minds. I'm a little too tired to "convert" anybody. But for that group of people who haven't decided, and that value facts over innuendo, this kind of data may prove useful. If that is the case, then I'm satisfied.