Senate Democrats Admit Obamacare Harms Farmers, Ask for Another Obamacare Waiver
The Hill reports this afternoon on a letter sent by several Democrat senators to Medicare Administrator Donald Berwick about “a potentially unintended, and unwanted, consequence of [Obamacare], which may cause disruption for farmers and others in the agricultural sector.” The letter explains the consequences of the fact that individuals who have policies sold through farmer co-operatives cannot obtain the same health insurance subsidies offered through Exchanges:
This provision might also create an incentive for some lower income farmer co-operative members…to leave their co-operative provided coverage for Exchange provided coverage….This incentive is harmful for farmers’ co-operatives and bad for farmers….
We share the concern of the co-operatives that unless they are allowed to provide coverage to their members…they will inevitably lose significant participation from their membership, thus putting at risk the integrity of their risk pool, increasing the premiums for remaining members, and ultimately threatening the viability of their model. At the same time, individual lower-income co-operative members who seek the subsidized prices in the Exchanges will no longer have access to the farm-friendly coverage policies they have come to rely on…
The signatories then ask Administrator Berwick “to allow subsidy-eligible farmers to purchase their coverage from their trusted co-operatives” without losing eligibility for premium subsidies – in effect asking the Administration to grant farmer co-operatives an Obamacare waiver. But what about the people who purchased coverage from insurance brokers who are now losing access to those brokers due to other onerous provisions in Obamacare? What about the people who won’t be able to keep their current coverage due to the mandates imposed by federal bureaucrats under the new regulations regarding grandfathered plans? Where are all the waivers for these people?
It’s nice for Senate Democrats finally to admit that Obamacare will cause many American families – particularly farmers in rural areas – to lose their current coverage, and could result in significantly higher premiums to boot. But it makes one ask: If these are the effects of Obamacare, why did all 60 Senate Democrats ever vote for the measure in the first place…?