Today, National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and 32 partners sent a letter to Capitol Hill supporting legislation doing away with Section 1342 of the Affordable Care Act – which could lead to a taxpayer-backed bailout for health insurance companies!
Here’s how:
Obamacare features a fund which pays out to insurance companies when their costs exceed targets (read more about this HERE). The reason this particularly matters to taxpayers is the administration seems willing to “stretch” this power – meaning taxpayers could be bailing out insurance companies when whatever is banked in this fund (otherwise known as squat) runs out as Health and Human Services pays off those insurers because Obamacare is forcing them to offer excessively costly plans.
As unfortunate as this mechanism is for insurance companies, at least they had a seat at the table during the hammering out of the Affordable Care Act (PPACA), while taxpayer concerns and fiscal diligence were ignored.
“This is yet another way Obamacare is finding to hurt taxpayers, and we cannot afford it,” said National Taxpayers Union Federal Affairs Manager Nan Swift. “Taxpayers shouldn’t, yet again, serve as a piggy bank for the federal government’s meddling in private markets.
Read more.