You know a law isn’t so great when Congress doesn’t follow its rules.
For the third year in a row, Congress has exempted itself from abiding by the Affordable Care Act’s policy on how members access health insurance and how it’s being paid for.
Prior to the law’s passage, Congressional members were provided generously subsidized health insurance options (up to $12,000 in premium contributions) through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). However, in the midst of Obamacare’s final legislative negotiations, Senator Chuck Grassley (R – Iowa) made sure that Congress would have to purchase health insurance through the law’s Exchanges – just like other Americans.
With that being the case, members of Congress would no longer legally qualify for subsidized health plans.
What’s a Congressional member to do?
John Malcolm of the Heritage Foundation and Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, explain in The Hill the illegal workarounds Congress is engaging in to secure their generous health benefits that Obamacare discards.
Read the full article here.
