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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.

That’s in addition to the 27 new waivers for health care or drug companies and the 31 new union waivers Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services approved.

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.

For instance, Boboquivari’s restaurant in Pelosi’s district in San Francisco got a waiver from Obamacare. Boboquivari’s advertises $59 porterhouse steaks, $39 filet mignons and $35 crab dinners.

Then, there’s Café des Amis, which describes its eating experience as “a timeless Parisian style
brasserie” which is “located on one of San Francisco’s premier shopping and strolling boulevards, Union Street,” according to the restaurant’s Web site.

“Bacchus Management Group, in partnership with Perry Butler, is bringing you that same warm, inviting feeling, with a distinctive San Francisco spin,” the Web site reads. Somehow, though, the San Francisco upper class eatery earned itself a waiver from Obamacare because it apparently cost them too much to meet the law’s first year requirements.

The reason the Obama administration says it has given out waivers is to exempt certain companies or policyholders from “annual limit requirements.” The applications for the waivers are “reviewed on a case by case basis by department officials who look at a series of factors including whether or not a premium increase is large or if a significant number of enrollees would lose access to their current plan because the coverage would not be offered in the absence of a waiver.” The waivers don’t allow a company to permanently refrain from implementing Obamacare’s stipulations, but companies can reapply for waivers annually through 2014.

Café Mason, a diner near San Francisco’s Union Square, got a waiver too. When The Daily Caller asked the manager about the waiver and how the president’s new sweeping federal health care law was affecting his restaurant, he hung up the phone. The Franciscan Crab restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco got a waiver. Its menu features entrees ranging from about $15 to $60. The Franciscan’s general manager didn’t return TheDC’s requests for comment.

Four-star hotel Campton Place got one too, as did Hotel Nikko San Francisco, which describes itself as “four-diamond luxury in the heart of the city.” 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.”

San Francisco Honda, which has two of its three locations in Pelosi’s district, and San Francisco’s Royal Motors Group both got waivers too. Neither called TheDC back.

Blue & Gold Fleet, which describes itself as “the Bay Area’s premier provider of Bay Cruise, Ferry Service and Motorcoach Tours,” got an Obamacare waiver approved in April. The tour service company didn’t return TheDC’s requests for comment.

Nightclub Infusion Lounge got an Obamacare waiver approved in April too. Infusion Lounge calls itself a “sophisticated nightlife destination” with “Asian inspired sub-rosa lounge, fashioned by Hong Kong’s hottest designer, Kinney Chan,” which makes for a “true ultra lounge catering to both dancing hipsters and young professionals looking to relax in style.” Infusion Lounge’s owners didn’t return TheDC’s requests for comment either.

Simco Restaurants and several other affiliated chains based in the area got waivers for their businesses as well. For example, Gordon Yoshida, the manager of memorabilia store Only in San Francisco, told TheDC that Sandra Fletcher of Simco walked him through the process of getting an Obamacare waiver. Fletcher did not return TheDC’s requests for comment.

Pelosi’s office did not respond to TheDC’s requests for comment either.

SuperHornet wrote:Uh, Jon, you leave me out of this. I didn't vote for the witch.

Republican leaders on and off Capitol Hill had slammed the Obama administration for granting a growing number of health-reform waivers to constituents of the top House Democrat. But Steve Larsen, director of HHS’ Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, said those businesses were given no special treatment.

“These temporary waivers are necessary to help ensure that the waiters, dishwashers, maids, home health aides, and other hardworking people can keep the health coverage they have, while we transition to 2014, when they will have access to affordable coverage in a competitive marketplace,” Larsen told The Hill in an email.

“HHS applied the same standard to the application from Flex Plan Services that it uses when reviewing any application for a temporary waiver.”

Another HHS official told The Hill that Flex-Plan Services, a third party administrator used by many low-wage service industries such as restaurants and hotels on the West Coast, filed a request for 92 waivers on March 23, all of which were approved. The waivers are for Health Reimbursement Arrangements, whereby employers reimburse their workers for a limited amount of health expenses.

The approved waivers include 69 in California, 20 in Washington, two in Georgia and one in Alaska, the HHS official noted.

But Jim Aitken, the owner of Bellevue, Wash.-based Flex-Plan Services, denied that his company has ever applied for HHS waivers under the new healthcare law.

"We didn't file any waivers for anybody," Aitken told The Hill Tuesday.

A Jan. 7 letter to HHS from Flex-Plan Services attorney Tina Ann Davis indicates that the company has been interested in the waivers on behalf of clients.

"This letter is a request for waiver of the requirements of PHS Act section 2711 for the stand-alone HRAs that Flex-Plan Services administers," Davis wrote in the letter obtained by The Hill. “HRAs allow these employers to comply with the local law while providing an affordable health care benefit to their employees.

“Application of the annual and lifetime limit rule to stand-alone HRAs would completely eliminate the benefit,” she warned.

Shown the letter Tuesday, Aitken said, “We were interested in how the waivers were being given out … But we have had nothing to do with any waivers whatsoever.”

93henfan wrote:I think it's time you guys stop referring to this plan with trumped up names like Obamacare. Everyone knows the correct name is IFvckingGotBinLadenCare.

dbackjon wrote:

93henfan wrote:I think it's time you guys stop referring to this plan with trumped up names like Obamacare. Everyone knows the correct name is IFvckingGotBinLadenCare.

Or more appropriately "FirstProposedbyRepublicansasacountertoHilliaryCarein1994Care"

93henfan wrote:

dbackjon wrote:


Or more appropriately "FirstProposedbyRepublicansasacountertoHilliaryCarein1994Care"

Or even, JustAboutEveryMofoInCongressIsOnBigPharmaorforprofitinsurance'sDimeCare.

BDKJMU wrote:Obama skirts rule of law to reward pals, punish foes

Question: What do the following have in common? Eckert Cold Storage Co., Kerly Homes of Yuma, Classic Party Rentals, West Coast Turf Inc., Ellenbecker Investment Group Inc., Only in San Francisco, Hotel Nikko, International Pacific Halibut Commission, City of Puyallup, Local 485 Health and Welfare Fund, Chicago Plastering Institute Health & Welfare Fund, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Teamsters Local 522 Fund Welfare Fund Roofers Division, StayWell Saipan Basic Plan, CIGNA, Caribbean Workers' Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Health and Welfare Plan.
Answer: They are all among the 1,372 businesses, state and local governments, labor unions and insurers, covering 3,095,593 individuals or families, that have been granted a waiver from Obamacare by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

All of which raises another question: If Obamacare is so great, why do so many people want to get out from under it?

More specifically, why are more than half of those 3,095,593 in plans run by labor unions, which were among Obamacare's biggest political supporters? Union members are only 12 percent of all employees but have gotten 50.3 percent of Obamacare waivers.

Just in April, Sebelius granted 38 waivers to restaurants, nightclubs, spas and hotels in former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco congressional district. Pelosi's office said she had nothing to do with it.

On its website HHS pledges that the waiver process will be transparent. But it doesn't list those whose requests for waivers have been denied.

It does say that requests are "reviewed on a case by case basis by Department officials who look at a series of factors including" -- and then lists two factors. And it refers you to another website that says that "several factors . . . may be considered" -- and then lists six factors.

What other factors may be considered? Political contributions or connections? (Unions contributed $400 million to Democrats in the 2008 campaign cycle.) The websites don't say...................................."
http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/ ... unish-foes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And the donls continue to defend this

kalm wrote:

BDKJMU wrote:Obama skirts rule of law to reward pals, punish foes

Question: What do the following have in common? Eckert Cold Storage Co., Kerly Homes of Yuma, Classic Party Rentals, West Coast Turf Inc., Ellenbecker Investment Group Inc., Only in San Francisco, Hotel Nikko, International Pacific Halibut Commission, City of Puyallup, Local 485 Health and Welfare Fund, Chicago Plastering Institute Health & Welfare Fund, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Teamsters Local 522 Fund Welfare Fund Roofers Division, StayWell Saipan Basic Plan, CIGNA, Caribbean Workers' Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Health and Welfare Plan.
Answer: They are all among the 1,372 businesses, state and local governments, labor unions and insurers, covering 3,095,593 individuals or families, that have been granted a waiver from Obamacare by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

All of which raises another question: If Obamacare is so great, why do so many people want to get out from under it?

More specifically, why are more than half of those 3,095,593 in plans run by labor unions, which were among Obamacare's biggest political supporters? Union members are only 12 percent of all employees but have gotten 50.3 percent of Obamacare waivers.

Just in April, Sebelius granted 38 waivers to restaurants, nightclubs, spas and hotels in former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco congressional district. Pelosi's office said she had nothing to do with it.

On its website HHS pledges that the waiver process will be transparent. But it doesn't list those whose requests for waivers have been denied.

It does say that requests are "reviewed on a case by case basis by Department officials who look at a series of factors including" -- and then lists two factors. And it refers you to another website that says that "several factors . . . may be considered" -- and then lists six factors.

What other factors may be considered? Political contributions or connections? (Unions contributed $400 million to Democrats in the 2008 campaign cycle.) The websites don't say...................................."
http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/ ... unish-foes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And the donls continue to defend this

No fan of Obamacare here, and I'm sure the Washington Examiner was every bit as critical of the kick back big pharma got from medicare part D.

travelinman67 wrote:

kalm wrote:
No fan of Obamacare here, and I'm sure the Washington Examiner was every bit as critical of the kick back big pharma got from medicare part D.

You do realize the pharmaceutical industry has had Capitol Hill/Wall Street/Madison Ave by the balls since the early 80's, right?

But this isn't about "Big Pharma" or other major industries...

...this is about Trainwreck Pelosi slopping together one of the largest, ill-planned bills every to pass Congress, the damage it will do, and the cowardly liberals who LOVE to dictate how others must live, so long as those rules don't apply to themselves or their friends.

Soulless, slimy, bottom-feeding, coward =