Federal Judiciary

The Weiner Waiver Wormhole

New York Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner toasted the anniversary of Obamacare this week -- and accidentally spilled his champagne glass all over the disastrous, one-size-fits-all mandate. Ostensibly one of the federal health-care law's staunchest defenders, Weiner exposed its ultimate folly by pushing for a special cost-saving regulatory exemption for New York City.

If it's good for the city Weiner wants to be mayor of, why not for each and every individual American and American business that wants to be free of Obamacare's shackles?

#ad#Weiner joins a bevy of the 'Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's' loudest cheerleaders -- unions, foundations, and left-leaning corporations -- in clamoring for more waivers for favors. (The list of federal waiver recipients now tops 1,000, covering more than 2.6 million workers.) And he follows a gaggle of health-care-takeover-promoting Democrats maneuvering on Capitol Hill for get-out-of-Obamacare loopholes.

At a speech before the George Soros–supported Center for American Progress, as reported by Politico.com, Weiner revealed that he's 'in the process now of trying to see if we can take [Pres. Barack Obama] up on' a favor waiver and is 'taking a look at all of the money we spend in Medicaid and Medicare and maybe New York City can come up with a better plan.' Echoing all the Republican critics of Obamacare who objected to top-down rules that override local variations in health-care expenditures, Weiner explained: 'I'm just looking internally to whether the city can save money and have more control over its own destiny.'

More local control over taxpayers' destiny, eh? Give that man a 'Hands Off My Health Care' sign, a Gadsden flag, and a Tea Party membership card ASAP!

I kid, of course. The ultimate agenda of many waiver-seekers is to create a wormhole path to even more radical restructuring of the health system. Weiner has brazenly called for a single-payer 'public option' to replace Obamacare should it be repealed. Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) has also crusaded for more kabuki 'flexibility' in the law through a bipartisan state-waiver proposal.

But as the Heritage Foundation noted, the plan 'simply changes a date on an existing ‘state innovation' provision of Obamacare from 2017 to 2014 -- still well after the federal Obamacare infrastructure has been cemented in place.' And it is essentially 'a back-door vehicle for progressive states to enact the ‘public option' and speed up the establishment of a single-payer system for health care.' White House health-care advisers Nancy-Ann DeParle and Stephanie Cutter further reinforced in a conference call to liberal advocates that the bill would help states implement single-payer health-care plans, such as those tested in Connecticut and Vermont.

Weiner argues that the waiver process dispels 'this notion that the government is shoving the bill down people's throats.' But only the politically connected, deep-pocketed, lawyered-up, and Beltway-savvy can apply. And the White House refuses to shed more light on its decision-making process. Obama's selective favor waivers simply underscore the notion that unaccountable regulatory bureaucrats are presiding over government by the cronies, for the cronies, and of the cronies.

Real control over our destinies means flexibility and choice for all. Repeal is the ultimate democratic waiver.

— Michelle Malkin is the author of Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies. © 2011 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Full post as published by Bench Memos - National Review Online on March 25, 2011 (boomark / email).