Entire State Of Maine Gets An Obamacare Exemption

[Chris_]

The federal government Tuesday granted Maine a waiver of a key provision in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, citing the likelihood that enforcement could destabilize the state’s market for individual health insurance.

The U.S. Health and Human Services department said in a letter it would waive the requirement that insurers spend 80 cents to 85 cents of every premium dollar on medical care and quality improvement. Instead, the letter said, the state could maintain its 65 percent standard for three years, with the caveat that HHS intends to review the figures after two years.

The decision makes Maine the first state to receive a waiver of the requirement. Similar requests are pending from Kentucky, Nevada and New Hampshire.

In seeking the waiver, Maine Insurance Superintendent Mila Kofman feared that one of three major insurers offering individual plans in Maine would withdraw from the market altogether if the federal requirement remained in place. The insurer, MEGA Life and Health Insurance Co., has 37 percent of the state’s individual market.

Boston Globe

[thundley4]

If they would just issue exemptions to the other 56 states the problem would be solved.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

The whole time the libs scream their constitutional justification is based on the "general welfare clause" we see in practical terms things like the "Cornhusker kickback" and now this.

For something that is part of the "general welfare" there sure is a lot of ad hoc benefits going to specific places.

[FreeBorn]

If they would just issue exemptions to the other 56 states the problem would be solved.

+1!