It's probably just a coincidence

Couple articles came across the wire recently, both discussing waivers to the new "Obamacare" legislation. Seems like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have been active in securing waivers from the new law for their constituents. Of course, they claim they haven't, that this is all done in Washington in a transparent manner. Bullshit. Or maybe they're right, maybe it is just a coincidence.

Even if the waiver requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, what kind of bureaucracy have we created? Why would it be necessary to have so many waivers if this law really did what they said it would do? I've posted about this before (Waivers needed, despite what they told us, December 13, 2010), this is nothing new.


First the news from Nancy Pelosi's district, from The Daily Caller:
"Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers are gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi’s district" by Matthew Boyle
http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/17/nearly-20-percent-of-new-obamacare-waivers-are-gourmet-restaurants-nightclubs-fancy-hotels-in-nancy-pelosi%E2%80%99s-district/

"Of the 204 new Obamacare waivers President Barack Obama’s administration approved in April, 38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s Northern California district."
18.6% of the waivers from April. For one congressional district, or 0.2% of the country.

"Pelosi’s district secured almost 20 percent of the latest issuance of waivers nationwide, and the companies that won them didn’t have much in common with companies throughout the rest of the country that have received Obamacare waivers."

"Other common waiver recipients were labor union chapters, large corporations, financial firms and local governments. But Pelosi’s district’s waivers are the first major examples of luxurious, gourmet restaurants and hotels getting a year-long pass from Obamacare."

Here's one humorous example. You know damn well this guy and his clients voted overwhelmingly for Obama and Pelosi. And he now realizes how devastating this law is to his business.
"Tru Spa, which Allure Magazine rated the 'best day spa in San Francisco,' received an Obamacare waiver as well. Before hanging up on TheDC, Tru Spa’s owner said new government health care regulations, both the federal-level Obamacare and new local laws in Northern California, have 'devastated' the business. 'It’s been bad for us,' he said, without divulging his name, referring to the new health care restrictions. But, the spa owner wouldn’t talk about it or the reason his company sought a waiver. He hung up after saying, 'I’ve got clients on the other line, good-bye.'"


And the news from Harry Reid's state of Nevada, from the Las Vegas Sun:
"Nevada secures partial waiver from federal health care law" by Karoun Demirjian
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/may/16/nevada-secures-partial-waiver-federal-health-care-/

"The Health and Human Services Department announced late Friday that Nevada had secured a statewide waiver from certain implementation requirements of the Obama administration’s health care law, because forcing them through, the department found, 'may lead to the destabilization of the individual market.'"

What? Obamacare would destabilize the market???
"For Republicans, the waiver is proof of what they’ve been arguing all along — that Obama’s health care law was never going to work and has to go."