SC Government and Big Businesses Already Benefiting from “Obamacare”

The Florida judge's ruling Monday against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is just one more step along the path to a final decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in a few years.  Now two Federal Judges have deemed the individual mandate to be unconstitutional and two have not found it to be so.  Of note is that no judge has found the expansion of Medicaid in the ACA to be unconstitutional.

But until the Supremes rule differently, the ACA is the law of the land and it is doing exactly what it was intended to do--make health insurance more affordable even for those who want to repeal it. 

Here is a perfect example.

Leaders of South Carolina’s state government and our state’s big businesses might continue to oppose health care reform but that’s not stopping them from taking money from the new program.

The ACA created the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) to help employers with the cost of paying for health care of their retired employees not yet eligible for Medicare.

And guess what anti-reform SC business was the first to tap funds under this ACA program? Blue Cross Blue Shield of SC.

Joining BCBS in using the ACA to make health care more affordable is the SC Budget and Control Board, Employee Insurance Program. The Budget and Control Board is chaired by ACA-hater Governor Nikki Haley.  Therest of the Board consists of other Republican leaders sworn to repeal the ACA.

Is this irony or hypocrisy? You decide.

For a complete list of SC local governments and businesses also receiving ACA funding under the ERRP, click here.