Should Congressmen & Senators be exempt from Obamacare?

[Xanjori]

Urg took the wrong option on the poll, I'm a Euro but seeing as you messed up the Euro poll options I went for the US one, and then clicked the wrong one anyway. No they shouldn't be exempt, they're US citizens at the end of the day .

[Slybak]

*Snip*

Tip: It may be helpful to read the link you provided. Federal employees still pay premiums on whatever plan they choose to enroll in. It's automatically deducted from their salary.

At issue is whether they should receive a subsidy for that expense at the same rate as a private citizen with similar income.

[Zallex]

Our lawmakers are the last group of people that should be exempt from this!!!

They are the faggots who voted for this piece of shit legislation

[Valerean]

No, lawmakers should not receive subsidies towards their health plan.

If they can afford it, they pay it in full. If they can't, they switch to a cheaper plan or go with Obamacare like everyone else.

[Slybak]

No, lawmakers should not receive subsidies towards their health plan.

If they can afford it, they pay it in full. If they can't, they switch to a cheaper plan or go with Obamacare like everyone else.

The biggest part of "ObamaCare" is the creation of health insurance exchanges - marketplaces where everyone can purchase insurance from competing firms - with subsidies for people whose premiums and out-of-pocket costs rise to a certain percentage of their income. These subsidies come in the form of a refundable tax credit. The FEHB Program, from which Federal employees get their health insurance, operates like an exchange; they pick a plan from competing private insurance companies that are active in the program, and the premiums that pay for that plan are deducted from those employees' salaries.

The problem is that during the drafting of the legislation, Sen. Chuck Grassley inserted an amendment requiring all Senators, Representatives, and their staff to join these new exchanges. In legislative terms, this is known as a "poison pill amendment," something that is difficult to vote against for political reasons, but creates all kinds of systemic problems down the road so its difficult to vote for it, too. The reason that it creates problems is that the insurance exchanges within ObamaCare are constructed to serve citizens who don't have employer-sponsored health insurance. Federal Employees, however, have employer-sponsored health insurance through the FEHB Program.

The Senate decided that it was better to pass the amendment than risk the political fallout from largely uninformed members of the public, even though it creates major hassles for the Federal workforce. The negotiations currently underway in Congress entail how to untangle this knot.

One Republican proposal is to take the Grassley amendment and make in apply to all Federal workers, which is simply insane. The goal of PPACA was to provide a mechanism through which people who don't have employer-sponsored health insurance to access affordable health insurance. Republicans alleged that it would take away people's insurance, and to prove it... put in an amendment that will take away people's insurance. In other words, they're dicking around with the health insurance benefits of over two million Americans for the sake of political theater. Saying "if they can't afford insurance they should go with ObamaCare like everyone else" misses the point. They did have affordable insurance, through the FEHBP, and now its being taken away for logical reason.

[Payday]

Would they not already be "exempt" from Obamacare in the same way that everyone else who already has insurance is? What did I miss?

[Flatspriest]

In my opinion, everyone except for lawmakers and the president should be exempt from Obamacare. It is an extra tax on every American, and done without our approval.

[Deadvolcanoes]

It is an extra tax on every American, and done without our approval.

Yeah that's not even close to accurate.

[Slybak]

Would they not already be "exempt" from Obamacare in the same way that everyone else who already has insurance is? What did I miss?

During the drafting, Sen. Chuck Grassley proposed an amendment requiring all Representatives, Senators, and their staff to join the new health insurance exchanges despite the fact that (a) the exchanges are designed for people without employer-sponsored insurance and (b) all Federal employees have employer-sponsored insurance through the Federal Employee Benefits Program (FEHBP). The Senate had two choices; vote it down and take the political risk that Republicans would make hay out of it ("If the exchanges are good enough for the average American, they should be good enough for us! ARGLE BARGLE!"), or vote for it and create all kinds of bureaucratic dilemmas for FEHBP down the road. They chose to vote for it.

The current negotiations deal with exempting low-level staff from this provision. It is important to note, repeatedly, that they would not be exempt from any aspect of law that affects any other citizen.