Posted on 08/03/2013 6:06:18 AM PDT by John Semmens
Under the Affordable Care Act, members of Congress and their staffs are slated to lose their gold-plated, Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and be forced to purchase coverage from one of the insurance exchanges established by the Act. The prospect of having to live under the same law as ordinary citizens has sparked widespread fear and continuous griping from these lawmakers and their aides.
President Obama has heard their pitiful cries and arranged for the Office of Personnel Management to issue a regulation that will have the taxpayers pick up any costs over-and-above what these beneficiaries were paying under the FEHBP. Acting OPM Director Elaine Kaplan explained that “the tasks of governing the country are stressful enough without adding concerns over spiraling heath insurance costs to their plate. Freed from this stress, the members of Congress will be able to more dispassionately do their jobs.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) praised the OPM decision saying “the clause mandating that members of Congress participate in the program escaped notice at the time we passed the legislation. This OPM ruling fixes that oversight and will enable us to meet the law's requirement that we enroll in the exchanges without having to face the kinds of increases in the cost of insurance that are being experienced elsewhere.”
In related news, employees at the IRS—chief enforcers of Obamacare—have also requested exemption from the law's provisions. IRS chief Daniel Werfel contends that “as federal employees we have a right to affordable health insurance. If we're forced to comply with the new law that won't be possible.”
if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Opinion/139251-2013-08-02-semi-news-a-satire-of-recent-news-august-4-2013.htm
I think that the IRS will have to call that income to the recipient and tax it; otherwise what is to stop private company from doing so for it’s employees
Meanwhile: "The colonies shall not be emancipated..."
“Hey! These crazy laws we keep coming up with aren’t supposed to apply to us!!!” - Senator Foghorn
I can not adequately express my disgust with this action of Congress. Thanks to the Obama Economy, both my daughter and son-in-law work in jobs without medical benefits. They are forced to buy an individual plan having relatively low benefits in comparison to most corporate plans but with an affordable cost. Under Obamacare, they expect their premiums to rise and may be forced into a state run exchange. There is no doubt they will financially suffer. And yet these idiots who passed and supported Obamacare are getting additional financial support from us, the suffering? Just another reason why every state should have a recall procedure and we should move to get the bums out!
One way to keep the congress staffs from telling what really goes on in D.C. club house bet the hookers and dealers feel safer now.
This site says it’s “semi-news” and “satire” so I wouldn’t take this to the bank. In particular, the quotation “as federal employees we have a right to affordable health insurance” appears to be fabricated.
I think what actually happened is that Grassley got a provision into Obamacare requiring Congressional participation in exchanges, but, in general, the exchanges are open only to people who don’t work for large employers. Therefore, some kind of tinkering was necessary. Federal employees aren’t eligible for the exchanges.
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