Among the many things that unions lost and won in the health care bill, section 164 remained intact, unchanged, in the final Reconciliation Act of 2010, H.R. 4872, that passed yesterday. I checked.

So while unions bemoan the loss of their exemption from the excise task–thanks to necessary cost finagling in the final days of the bills’ consideration, they should still be able to sleep at night, dreaming about the $10 billion dollars that bails out their failing health and welfare funds…excuse me… “reinsurance programs.”

From the Washington Examiner in August:

“Section 164 of the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 provides that the government pay 80 cents on the dollar to corporate and union insurance plans for claims between $15,000 and $90,000 for retirees age 55 to 64. Union health insurance funds only have about 30 cents available to cover each dollar of anticipated claims, according to the Lewin Group and other research outfits. If this provision were to be passed as part of the overhaul package favored by the Obama Administration, the $10 billion figure would probably expand overtime as union plans continue to come under financial pressure, Packer said.”

The unions are pleased that this section never got the media attention of, say…..labors’s revoked excise tax exemption; the Teamsters more than all the rest.

Good night, health care fight. Good morning, $10 billion dollars.