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Loophole Exempts Washington Insiders From Obamacare
Mandate
No Obamacare for Obama, his family, his staff,
the vice president, the vice president's staff, the
rest of the administration, Nancy Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi's
staff, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Reid's staff,
all other House and Senate leaders and their staff,
all committee members and their staff... the list goes
on
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 A
loophole written into the final healthcare reform bill passed
on Sunday and signed into law by Obama yesterday, exempts Washington
insiders and committee staffers from the mandate that now requires
every American to purchase health insurance.
Members of Congress and their office staffers will have to
buy insurance through the state-run exchanges created under
the bill. However, those working for congressional committees
or for party leaders in the House and Senate are excluded.
Politico
reports:
...page 158 of the bill defines “congressional staff”
narrowly, as “employees employed by the official office
of a member of congress, whether in the district office or
in Washington.”
The Congressional Research Service believes a court could
rule that the legislation "would exclude professional
committee staff, joint committee staff, some shared staff,
as well as potentially those staff employed by leadership
offices.”
If that’s so, staffers who work for Nancy Pelosi in
her capacity as representative from California would go into
the exchange program, while staffers who work for her in her
capacity as speaker would stay on the government’s plan.
Other Capitol employees, like those who work for the Clerk
of the House or the House Historian, would be similarly exempted.
This means that committee staffers, those most intimately
involved with drafting the legislation, have effectively opted
themselves out of one of its key requirements!
While declaring that rank-and-file House and Senate staff will
no longer benefit from the Federal Employees Health Benefit
Plan (FEHBP) and must purchase their cover from restricted federal
health insurance pools, along with the rest of the surfs, the
Washington elite have ensured they will not have to participate.
"Because they were more familiar with the contents of
the law than anyone in the country, it says a lot that they
carved out their own special loophole." a Washington
Times editorial states.
Of course, it goes without saying that the president, vice
president, cabinet members and top White House staff are also
exempted from the mandate to buy coverage through the exchanges.
Republican Senators Coburn and Grassley, who both twice filed
amendments last year to close the loophole, have accused the
Senate leadership Democrats of purposely exempting upper-level
staffers from the overhaul.
“The American people will be appalled to learn the health
care bill exempts leadership and committee staff. This special
deal for unelected staff underscores everything the public detests
about the arrogance of power in Washington,” Coburn said.
“I tried to fix this inequity along with senators Grassley,
Burr and Vitter, but Majority Leader [Harry] Reid obstructed
our effort.”
Grassley reiterated the sentiments in his own statement, declaring
"The new health care law creates two double standards.
The congressional staff who wrote the new law exempted themselves
from the new health care system, while other staff will be in
it."
"And, President Obama himself will not live under Obama
health care. The message to grassroots America is that it’s
good enough for you, but not for us." the Senator added.
Grassley has now penned a third amendment to force all congressional
staffers, as well as the Washington elite, to be included under
the mandate.
The details highlight the hollow ring of Obama's promises on
health care, given that he frequently declared that the new
legislation would provide everyday Americans with the same kind
of health insurance as Congress.
In his
speech on the eve of the vote, last Saturday, before
the House Democratic Congress, Obama lauded the health care
legislation, declaring that a major advantage would be that
"people will have choice and competition just like members
of Congress have choice and competition."
Obama's astounding hypocrisy continued into yesterday's signing
ceremony, where he commented that Americans will be "part
of a big pool, just like federal employees are part of a big
pool. They'll have the same choice of private health insurance
that members of Congress get for themselves."
All the while, the president cannot have been unaware that
the loophole within the bill exempts high ranking insiders from
having to share the same pool as the rest of America.
"...the American people will have a public pool; the executive
branch and congressional staffers kept their country-club pool
private." The Washington Times comments.
"Meanwhile, we await Mr. Obama's explanation why if his
historic health care law is so great for America, it's not good
enough for him and his family."
This monster health care bill, the final version of which no
one has yet read in its entirety, is sure to throw up many more
issues that make this one look like a minor quibble. However,
it is already clear at this early stage that the bill revolves
around special interests and contains special exemptions for
those who recognised the fact at it's inception.
This is another instance of big government elitists dictating
measures to the American people on behalf of K Street corporate
lobbyists while excluding themselves from the aftereffects.
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