- May 17, 2008
- 3,543
- 2,716
ObamaCare’s Early Retiree Benefits Program: So Awesome the Administration Had to Shut It Down Early
How do you tell if a $5 billion federal program is a success? If you’re in charge of ObamaCare’s Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP)—a slush fund that has already approved grants worth tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to state governments, unions, and big corporations—success means giving away so much money so fast that you have to shut the program down early.
Yesterday, the administration admitted the money was effectively all used up when they announced that they were closing the program: No new claims will be accepted after the end of this month.
So a program begun in 2010 and designed to last until 2014 was shuttered less than half way through 2011. And that, according to the administration, is what makes it so great.
Who’s making money off the program? Mostly state and local governments, unions, and large corporations, according to a memo put together by Republican staff on the House Energy and Commerce Committee:
Over one-third of the $535 million spent by the ERRP in 2010 was spent on just five government entities. Fifty-six percent of the ERRP funding spent in 2010 ($298 million) went to government organizations.
With a $57.8 million claim, California’s Public Employee Retirement System was the biggest state beneficiary. Grants of between $20 and $38 million also went to public employee plans in Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, and New Jersey, according to the memo.
The Obama administration is trying to sell the program as a winner, and its early end as a sign that it worked even better than expected. But it looks a lot more like yet another example of the many ways in which ObamaCare mixes poor planning with gratuitous taxpayer funded handouts. If that’s success, I’d hate to see what failure looks like.
How do you tell if a $5 billion federal program is a success? If you’re in charge of ObamaCare’s Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP)—a slush fund that has already approved grants worth tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to state governments, unions, and big corporations—success means giving away so much money so fast that you have to shut the program down early.
Yesterday, the administration admitted the money was effectively all used up when they announced that they were closing the program: No new claims will be accepted after the end of this month.
So a program begun in 2010 and designed to last until 2014 was shuttered less than half way through 2011. And that, according to the administration, is what makes it so great.
Who’s making money off the program? Mostly state and local governments, unions, and large corporations, according to a memo put together by Republican staff on the House Energy and Commerce Committee:
Over one-third of the $535 million spent by the ERRP in 2010 was spent on just five government entities. Fifty-six percent of the ERRP funding spent in 2010 ($298 million) went to government organizations.
With a $57.8 million claim, California’s Public Employee Retirement System was the biggest state beneficiary. Grants of between $20 and $38 million also went to public employee plans in Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, and New Jersey, according to the memo.
The Obama administration is trying to sell the program as a winner, and its early end as a sign that it worked even better than expected. But it looks a lot more like yet another example of the many ways in which ObamaCare mixes poor planning with gratuitous taxpayer funded handouts. If that’s success, I’d hate to see what failure looks like.
