Labor union leaders, among the biggest financial backers of President Obama’s campaign efforts, now want something in return — subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.

The unions have been hounding the administration for subsidies provided to low-income policyholders who purchase health insurance under the Obamacare individual mandate, but they are not available to employers or organized labor.

But new rules suggest the unions be receiving a tax subsidy instead, according to Kaiser Health News, which reported:

Buried in rules issues last week is the disclosure that the administration will propose exempting “certain self-insured, self-administered plans” from the law’s temporary reinsurance fee in 2015 and 2016.

That’s a description that applies to many Taft-Hartley union plans acting as their own insurance company and claims processor, said Edward Fensholt, a senior vice president at Lockton Cos., a large insurance broker.

Insurance companies and self-insured employers that hire outside claims administrators would still be liable for the fee, which starts at $63 per insurance plan member next year and is projected to raise $25 billion over three years.

Fox News host Megyn Kelly jumped all over the new development on Wednesday’s “The Kelly Report.”

“The unions, who spent $400 million to get the president elected twice, are getting a little bit of payback,” said Kelly’s guest, J. Justin Wilson, managing director of the Center for Union Facts.

Wilson said the administration’s decision only came after the unions went public and called for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

“They [the Department of Health and Human Services] made the carve-out so specific, that basically only union plans that are going to be exempted from paying upwards of $600 million,” Wilson said.

Watch the interview below from Fox News.

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Michael Dorstewitz

Mike has been with BizPac Review almost from the beginning. Follow him on Twitter at @MikeBPR.

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