New York City Teachers Union Is Largest Recipient of Obamacare Waiver; Parent AFT Union Spent $1.9 Million on Obama Election

(CNSNews.com) – The United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the union representing New York City’s public school teachers, is the largest beneficiary of a waiver from one of the provisions in the health-care law signed by President Barack Obama last year.

The UFT is a chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which spent $1.9 million on the election of President Barack Obama in 2008. The UFT is also an affiliate of the New York State United Teachers, which spent $46,139 in independent expenditures on the election of Obama.

The health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires that annual caps on how much an insurance plan will pay in benefits for an enrollee in any given year must be eliminated by 2014. Under the law, the Department of Health and Human Services is now phasing the coverage limits out. In 2011, yearly caps can be no less than $750,000; in 2012, they can be no less than $1.25 million; and in 2013, they can be no less than $2 million in 2013.

The waivers granted to the UFT locals exempt them from having to comply with the phasing out of the annual benefits caps. A total of 351,000 enrollees are in the UFT’s health insurance plan, the UTF Welfare Fund.