20% of new Obamacare waivers are from businesses in Pelosi's district
There are times when irony is like a warm, sudsy bath, deliciously satisfying and causing one to revel in the glorious feeling of contentment it offers.
Medai Matters for America featured this headline in January:
Right-Wing Media Revive Myth That Health Care Waivers Are Political FavorsI'm afraid we're going to have to revive that "myth" all over again. Of the 204 waivers to Obamacare granted by HHS in April, "38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels in House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's Northern California district," according to the Daily Caller.
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.
Now, I am not a suspicious character by nature. I figure that the world is a truly wondrous place and that coincidences play a large role in the march of history.
But really now, do these companies really need an Obamacare waiver?
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.
Let us weep for the troubles of the wealthy elites in Pelosi's district. Giving some poor illegal dishwasher health care insurance is just too much to bear, the cost too enormous, the price to high. Why, they may have to raise the price of those porterhouse steaks to $65! Think of the hardship!
I would tell Media Matters to go hang, but it wouldn't do any good. They will deny that there is any political favoritism being shown to businesses in Pelosi's congressional district. Just as they have denied that Democratic- friendly unions and corporations who have contributed to Democratic candidates are getting waivers for political reasons as well.
Meanwhile, pass the rubber ducky. This irony bath sure feels good.