Ooops! Congress Loses Health Care Plan Under Obamacare?

[bonnie]

One could only hope for such a display of "social justice"

Makes one wonder how long this will remain before it goes "poof'in the night

Ooops! Congress loses health care plan under Obamacare?

Clarice Feldman

In what appears to have been a laughable oversight, Congress seems to have stripped itself of its very generous healthcare plan and I don't see how they an undo the damage without conceding (a) they never read the Act before they passed it; and ( they certainly expect to get better treatment under the law than they are forcing on the rest of us.

Tom Maguire has the details:

However, the language causing the problem is this:

§ 1312(d)(3)(D)(i), specifically requires that:

the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are--

(I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or (II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).

For new Congressman and staffers to whom this applies, the result is clear, at least after 2014. For incumbents, it is not clear what Congressional intent was, how a court might resolve this, or who would proceed with a suit.

Business as usual.

[karl]

In a new report, the Congressional Research Service says the law may have significant unintended consequences for the “personal health insurance coverage” of senators, representatives and their staff members.

For example, it says, the law may “remove members of Congress and Congressional staff” from their current coverage, in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, before any alternatives are available.

The confusion raises the inevitable question: If they did not know exactly what they were doing to themselves, did lawmakers who wrote and passed the bill fully grasp the details of how it would influence the lives of other Americans?

The law promises that people can keep coverage they like, largely unchanged. For members of Congress and their aides, the federal employees health program offers much to like. But, the report says, the men and women who wrote the law may find that the guarantee of stability does not apply to them.

“It is unclear whether members of Congress and Congressional staff who are currently participating in F.E.H.B.P. may be able to retain this coverage,” the research service said in an 8,100-word memorandum.

[bonnie]

In a new report, the Congressional Research Service says the law may have significant unintended consequences for the “personal health insurance coverage” of senators, representatives and their staff members.

For example, it says, the law may “remove members of Congress and Congressional staff” from their current coverage, in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, before any alternatives are available.

The confusion raises the inevitable question: If they did not know exactly what they were doing to themselves, did lawmakers who wrote and passed the bill fully grasp the details of how it would influence the lives of other Americans?

The law promises that people can keep coverage they like, largely unchanged. For members of Congress and their aides, the federal employees health program offers much to like. But, the report says, the men and women who wrote the law may find that the guarantee of stability does not apply to them.

“It is unclear whether members of Congress and Congressional staff who are currently participating in F.E.H.B.P. may be able to retain this coverage,” the research service said in an 8,100-word memorandum.

To have them at the tender mercies of "Obamacare" would almost be worth accepting it ourselves