Friday, December 9, 2011

A Microcosm of Obamacare: Subsidy Program Goes Broke

The Hill reports this afternoon that Obamacare’s early retiree reinsurance program is shutting down at the end of the year.  The program was scheduled to run through 2014, but ran out of money years ahead of schedule.

The program went broke because unions and state governments rushed to the federal government to receive subsidies.  Data from HHS suggest that more than half of the money went to only 24 organizations – with the biggest recipient being the United Auto Workers union.

It’s yet another telling sign of how the health law rewards Democrat political allies that the $5 billion program went broke because union-affiliated organizations rushed to the federal taxpayer to receive what amounts to an Obamacare bailout.  Unfortunately, however, now even that bailout program needs its own bailout.