Labor union leaders, who are big supporters of President Obama and were big proponents of his health care reform law, want taxpayer dollars to help pay for the increase in their health care costs due to Obamacare.
There are many provisions in Obamacare that will raise the cost of insurance in both the individual and employer markets. To name just a few of these provisions: no pre-existing condition exclusions, no cost-sharing on certain preventative benefits, children can stay on their parents’ plan until they’re 26, and no cap on medical benefits.
It should surprise no one that adding benefits and restricting cost-sharing adds considerable costs to health plans.
However, it appears the unions were too busy supporting Obamacare to do the math. Unions are now asking for a reprieve from the higher costs in the form of taxpayer subsidies for their lower income workers with employer-sponsored insurance. However, the subsidies are only intended to go to those purchasing coverage in the new exchanges, not to anyone with employer-sponsored insurance.
To be clear, they want taxpayer subsidies to offset the cost of their insurance while non-union workers in the same predicament would not receive help.
This request should insult every American taxpayer. These unions are using their political clout to ask for special treatment under the law at the expense of taxpayers.
Thus far, the Administration has not caved in to their request but the unions are determined to keep up the pressure.
As The Wall Street Journal reports:
Top officers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the AFL-CIO and other large labor groups plan to keep pressing the Obama administration to expand the federal subsidies to these jointly run plans, warning that unionized employers may otherwise drop coverage. A handful of unions say they already have examined whether it makes sense to shift workers off their current plans and onto private coverage subsidized by the government. But dropping insurance altogether would undermine a central point of joining a union, labor leaders say.
Indeed, many employers will stop offering health insurance to their employees and send them into the federally subsidized exchanges. Estimates for loss of employer-sponsored coverage vary depending on the study or survey but the end result is always clear: Millions will lose the coverage they once had.
Rather than unions or other politically influential groups receiving special treatment, all Americans should get a reprieve from Obamacare and its erroneous consequences. Government subsidies are made of taxpayer dollars, so more subsidies will inevitably result in more taxes, which is not the solution. The only way to pardon everyone from Obamacare’s damaging effects is to repeal it. Luckily, there is still time.
