Cromnibus Contains Crony Kickbacks for Blue Cross

Washington Examiner’s Timothy Carney says the massive so-called Cromnibus spending bill contains special carve outs and crony perks for Blue Cross/Blue Shield and the reauthorization of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) which doles out taxpayer dollars to overseas companies.

Carney cites National Review’s Yuval Levin, who notes that the spending bill permits Blue Cross/Blue Shield to save big bucks by “allowing them to count ‘quality improvement’ spending as part of the medical loss ratio calculation required of them under Obamacare.” Worse, the provision is retroactive for four years.

Carney also says the bill’s one-year OPIC reauthorization advantages well-connected businesses in ways that hurt other U.S. businesses lacking crony connections.

“Want to set up a factory in a different country? OPIC can make it cheaper for you,” writes Carney. “For instance, a Brazilian granite business gets an OPIC subsidy, even though that hurts its U.S. competitors.” 

As Breitbart News’ Matthew Boyle has reported, the $1.1 trillion bill contains an array of spending allocations, including $500 million worth of weapons and aid to “appropriately vetted” Syrian rebels, crony kickbacks to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and his Vegas supporters, and $19 million for rhinoceroses.