As consumers we were characterized as "stupid" by Obamacare contributor and architect Jonathan Gruber as to how we got Obamacare. As elections heat up, we're being played for chumps again. Let's talk about Congress and Obamacare. As long as public employees get benefits unavailable to the rest of us that we pay for, we can count on the continued use of our money to pay for their superior benefits while we deal with the benefits cutting, price increases and other results of the Obama Administration's partnership with insurance companies that gave us OUR Obamacare.
Here we deconstruct the MYTH THAT CONGRESS IS SUBJECT TO OBAMACARE in anything but name only. As you know, I often refer to Congress' de facto exemption from the law because asserting that Congress' Obamacare is OUR Obamacare is patently false.
Those who are ridiculously protective of Obama and his maneuvering of the government and his manipulation of the citizen population lecture the public telling us that indeed Congress is not exempt but is bound by Obamacare. It's Obamacare in name only. The only resemblance Congress' Obamacare has to ours is that they purchase their health insurance plans on an exchange.
Shopping on an exchange does NOT make health insurance Obamacare, since all of us have felt the law's impact, especially those who DON'T obtain health insurance on an exchange. We've seen the real-world IMPACT of Obamacare that left many people unable to afford health insurance, many people unable to afford dependent coverage (the family glitch), many people facing uncovered or meagerly covered services under their health insurance, all of us facing balance billing (uncorrected by Obamacare), the increased charges we face because of insurance fraud by providers (worsened by Obamacare which in its 80/20 rule takes insurance company investigation of fraud into the 20 category, meaning that insurers who cherish that 20 percent they can use for themselves don't actively pursue insurance fraud, but instead raise prices on consumers to cover those costs), all with the forced purchase of the consumer financial product of health insurance (the individual mandate), in addition to paying for sexist provisions that provide female sterilization as birth control but not male sterilization, that provide for counseling for females who experience domestic violence, but not males, that charge more in premiums to people based on age and tobacco use while ignoring other insurance cost centers like alcohol and drug abuse, obesity, pre-existing conditions and even the choice to become pregnant.
The Obamacare we know is the one that couldn't get enough young healthies to sign up for silver plans because of the cost even with the "sweeten the pot" provisions of cost-sharing for USING health insurance if their incomes were low enough, because after all, they're young-healthies, statistically they won't have to use their insurance coverage enough to justify that. In response in 2015, the rates for BRONZE plans took a jump much more than that of SILVER plans as insurers tried to make it a "better deal" for young healthies to get silver plans. That didn't work and in 2016, the insurance company partner the Obama Administration federal government drastically reduced the availability of short-term limited duration insurance plans specifically because they were attracting the young-healthies.
This is Obamacare for consumers, OUR Obamacare.
What about Congress' "Obamacare"? Article after article asserts that the public employees of Congress are bound by Obamacare, citing the Grassley amendment that advocated for Congress and staff to purchase health insurance on exchanges. Oh, but they didn't want to have to pay for their benefits more than previously, so Congresspeople, who earn $174,000 a year get 75 percent of THEIR premiums paid for by taxpayers. That's not the Obamacare WE know.
According to NPR. On 4/12/2017 Michelle Andrews reported in "What Happens To A Congressman's Health Insurance If Obamacare Goes Down?" that the public employees who want "employer coverage" eg taxpayer funded federal government benefits "generally have to buy it on the health insurance exchange." For 2017, Andrews explains that members of Congress and their staffs get to choose from "…57 gold plans from four insurers sold on the DC Health Link's small business marketplace this year," and that "The government pays about three-quarters of the cost of the premium." That's not the Obamacare WE know.
"VeryWell Health," takes the spin further, asserting that "Obamacare Actually Applies More Strictly to Congress." This is a chump play, where the author, Louise Norris, 5/22/2018, "Congress and Obamacare," argues the old "federal government as employer," that there was NO reason for Congress to ever have to participate on exchanges since their employer, the federal government provided rich benefits but the optics were bad so the Grassley amendment provided Congress purchase their health insurance on an exchange.
OK, so while we're seeing our options slashed, while nobody's getting to keep their plan if they like it, while few if any are saving $2,500 a year on premiums, while NONE of us got the same benefits Obama's family did, while we're living the realities of Obama's lies and Obamacare, Louise Norris wants us to feel Congress' pain for shopping for gold-level plans, paid for by taxpayers up to 75 percent of premiums? That's not OUR Obamacare.
Norris' chump argument goes further arguing that "Remember, the vast majority of Americans do not have to shop in the exchanges," ignoring the differences between Congress' exchange options and the rest of the population's and ignoring the negative changes in health insurance options for everyone in the private sector in terms of increased costs, fewer options, under Obamacare's provisions.
Then another chump argument. Norris claims Congress has unnecessarily opted into Obamacare citing the Grassley amendment, falsely characterizing Obamacare as merely making health insurance options off an exchange and underscores the falsehood of her assertion by explaining away the 75 percent contribution by taxpayer money to Congress premiums by acknowledging that under real Obamacare, "Congress and many of their staff—would have lost access to subsidies altogether, since subsidies in the exchange are based on income, and Congressional incomes are far too high to be eligible for subsidies unless the family is very large."
Nice EXEMPTION. Congress gets to pick and choose which parts of Obamacare they'll be part of as long as their benefits aren't reduced. That's not OUR Obamacare.
Here's another consideration of Congress and Obamacare from Snopes.com, "Do Members of Congress Enjoy Free Health Care?" which addresses the differences between Congress' "Obamacare" and OURS:
The article explains, "The bottom line is this: Members of Congress and their staff members are required by law to purchase their health insurance through the exchanges offered by the Affordable Care Act. However, the federal government subsidizes approximately 72 percent of the premium cost." That's not OUR Obamacare if we earn $174,000.
Snopes.com continues: "There are two areas where Members of Congress (not staff or family members) can receive free or low-cost health care that the average citizen cannot access…the Office of the Attending Physician" and "free medical outpatient care at military facilities." Again, that's not OUR Obamacare.
And remember those rich federal benefits paid for by taxpayers under the FEHBP? Well, as CNN explained in "How do Congress' lawmakers get health care," Ashley Killough, 7/18/2017, "Almost all other government workers receive their benefits through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program."
So let's put it to rest, if you're talking Obamacare and Congress, you're talking about purchasing off a very small exchange, (CNN, 7/18/2017, "The vast majority of congressional members and staffers get their insurance through the Washington, DC, exchange, known as DC Health Link") that offers Congress and staffers up to around 75 percent taxpayer funding for GOLD level health insurance, that saves them enough money to opt back into FEHBP upon retirement. That is NOT our Obamacare, NOT Obamacare at all, it's merely purchasing health insurance through an exchange.
