A government with moral and legal authority promulgates written rules and universally, impartially and uniformly enforces the rules, which provides a predictable and stable legal order on which to base economic and personal decisions. The law prevails, not the proclamation or arbitrary decision of a ruler, government bureaucrat, the enforcer (e.g., policeman) or judge.

McDonald’s Seeks Health Plan Waivers

McDonald’s has approximately 30,000 people insured in a mini-plan, which will not meet some of the mandated requirements of ObamaCare. Dutifully McDonald’s asked the federal government for waivers, in essence to disregard a mandate.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

McDonald’s, in a memo to federal officials, said “it would be economically prohibitive for our carrier to continue offering” the mini-med plan unless it got an exemption from the requirement to spend 80% to 85% of premiums on benefits.

The Wall Street Journal asked the government as to the viability of the request:

Federal officials say there’s no guarantee they can grant mini-med carriers a waiver. They say the answer may not come by November, when many employers require employees to sign up for the coming year’s benefits.

The government is waiting for the association of state insurance commissioners to draft recommendations. The head of the association’s health-insurance committee, Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, said she doesn’t think these types of mini-med plans deserve an exemption.

“If they are sold as comprehensive coverage, we expect them to meet the same [medical-loss ratio] standards as other health plans,” she said.

….

Steven Larsen, the HHS official who received McDonald’s email memo, said the department doesn’t want employers to drop coverage over the law. The agency says it has already given the carrier for McDonald’s and others the chance to seek exemption from new annual limits on benefit payouts.

Immediately responding to the article, the Obama Administration calls the WSJ article premature because the administrative rules have not been completed. Restating the opportunity to seek waivers, a spokesperson obliquely indicated the mini plans will probably be exempt from the initial regulations.

This violates good governance: A government with moral and legal authority promulgates written rules and universally, impartially and uniformly enforces the rules, which provides a predictable and stable legal order on which to base economic and personal decisions. The law prevails, not the proclamation or arbitrary decision of a ruler, government bureaucrat, the enforcer (e.g., policeman) or judge.

Remember the Speaker Pelosi’s statement just prior to passage of the legislation: “You’ve heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. ….

“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.” …

Because of the size, scope, political pay offs, and stakeholder deals the health care legislation is garbled and incoherent. Tragically it will effect every American. Yes, mandates and enforcement dates are set. After that there is essentially no predictable and stable legal order on which to base economic and personal decisions. Just as McDonald’s and their employees are unsure of medical coverage, thousands of companies and millions of citizens are dependent on government bureaucrats to write and adjudicate the rules.

What will the health care law be? Instead of having written rules being universally and uniformly enforced, the law will become the proclamations of the bureaucrats and interpretations by the courts.

Of immediate concern, waiting for the proclamations and interpretations will delay economic expansion.

More important: written rules, universally enforced, providing a stable legal order are essential for a society to excel. Join FreedomWorks to force all elected officials to comply with principles of good governance.