By SolidGround
In case you haven’t heard, the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP), the $5 billion Obamacare slush fund set up by the Democrats in Congress to buy off voters and favored constituencies, is broke and ending on Dec. 31.
The program was supposed to fund 80% of insuring early retirees’ healthcare all the way until 2014–when the magic healthcare elixir of “public exchanges” kicks in (or not, depending on the outcome of the 2012 election).
It seems the sumptuous benefit table set by Obama and his pals was just too much to resist. Big business, state governments and unions crashed the party and wolfed down the entire $5 billion pot like a flock of Beltway pols feeding on lobbyist cash.
As reported by John Hayward at Daily Events, “The top 25 recipients of ERRP money accounted for over half of the total funding. First in line was the United Auto Workers, who already received the gift of General Motors at gigantic taxpayer expense.”
Yes, that’s another $5 billion down the tubes, good for another trip to the Chinese ATM, which of course is quite literally all in a day’s work at BigGov Inc.
But you wouldn’t know the ERRP’s a bust if you visited the White House web site.
At www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/fact-sheet-early-retiree-reinsurance-program, the WH continues to trumpet the ERRP as “quality, affordable care for early retirees,” and “relief for business.”
Meanwhile, at the top of the page, the White House has disingenuously placed a countdown clock trumpeting the fact that “if Congress doesn’t act, middle class taxes increase in ….” with the clock pac man-ing away the days, hours and minutes until payroll tax reinstatement Armageddon.
The WH has even been so kind as to place a “calculator” at the top of the page, so the visitor, who presumably will swallow the line that the ERRP is on the rails and running just fine, can quickly discover how deeply the axe will fall on him or her should a cornerstone of Obama’s Entitlement Nation campaign strategy be stripped away (and can’t you just hear David Axelrod praying for exactly that to happen?).
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