A stark case of cronyism in the new House spending bill

This section is, simply put, a special favor for Blue Cross/Blue Shield allowing them to count “quality improvement” spending as part of the medical loss ratio calculation required of them under Obamacare. And it’s made retroactive for four years, saving them loads of money. (You can find some background here.)

Now maybe this is a substantive improvement over existing law, or maybe it isn’t. But it’s special relief from an Obamacare requirement that’s basically being given to one insurer, is stuffed into the very end of 1,600 pages of similarly clear and accessible language, and is written as a series of removals and insertions of words from another statute with no explanatory text of any kind.

This is why cronyism wins.