GOP frosh: Where's my health care? (28 day wait for gubmint coverage)

Politico ^ | 1/16/10 | GLENN THRUSH

[Libloather]

GOP frosh: Where's my health care?
By GLENN THRUSH
Updated: 11/16/10 6:19 AM EST

A conservative Maryland physician elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform surprised fellow freshmen at a Monday orientation session by demanding to know why his government-subsidized health care plan takes a month to kick in.

Republican Andy Harris, an anesthesiologist who defeated freshman Democrat Frank Kratovil on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, reacted incredulously when informed that federal law mandated that his government-subsidized health care policy would take effect on Feb. 1 – 28 days after his Jan. 3rd swearing-in.

“He stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care,” said a congressional staffer who saw the exchange. The benefits session, held behind closed doors, drew about 250 freshman members, staffers and family members to the Capitol Visitors Center auditorium late Monday morning,”.

“Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap,” added the aide, who was struck by the similarity to Harris’s request and the public option he denounced as a gateway to socialized medicine.

Harris, a Maryland state senator who works at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and several hospitals on the Eastern Shore, also told the audience, “This is the only employer I’ve ever worked for where you don’t get coverage the first day you are employed,” his spokeswoman Anna Nix told POLITICO.

[Libloather]

If I ever ran for office, my campaign slogan would be: Elect me so my family and I can be exempt from Commiecare!

[freespirited]

“Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap,” added the aide, who was struck by the similarity to Harris’s request and the public option he denounced as a gateway to socialized medicine.

Federal employees health insurance is a far cry from the "public option." You choose from a list of private insurers.

Politico looking to trash a Republican. As usual.

[napscoordinator]

What a goof. Total idiot. We have some clear dumb freaks we elect. How hypocritical can you be. I don’t believe for one moment that he is a conservative Republican....a conservative Republican would not be this stupid. Being from Maryland, at best he is a RINO.

[TaxMe]

Andy Harris, tone deaf moron?

[darkangel82]

No, the guy he beat last time was a RINO. Harris is a conservative.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Because of the obvious political sensitivity of asking a question like this in a “general Q&A” (welcome to the fishbowl, frosh) he ought to have had a staffer sniff out the question in more confidential quarters.

[earlJam]

Join the real world pal.

Many of us have a 3-6 month wait before our employer’s plans kick in.

[napscoordinator]

I believe you 100 percent but why be so stupid to be against government health care and then demand government health care? It just seems so sloppy a thing to do right out the gate. He could have been more discreet about this.

[sam_paine]

What a goof. Total idiot. We have some clear dumb freaks we elect. How hypocritical can you be. I don’t believe for one moment that he is a conservative Republican..

LOL. Darkangel knows he's a conservative because he beat a RINO.

Who do you believe naps, darkangel or your lying eyes!?

[hondact200]

i kinda think thi is funny. here he is physician and he is moving from private prctice into public service and he is asking why he has to wait 28 days for his benefits to go into effect. It is interesting in that many of the positions I have had in working in medical care insurance is covered immediately of 30 dyas after employment. but i have TRI CARE through the militaryservice and I do nothave to accept the medical insurance. I think he is only try to stress a point about health insurance. But when leaving maryland he can utilize his COBRA insurance to cover his butt for the 28 days. really it is not far for him to travel back to Maryland if he needs medical care. i also think he has enough money to pay for his medical needs.

[ltc8k6]

Yep. Always been 90 days here.

Prevents fraud.

[napscoordinator]

I guess you need to keep reading and find out.....think of it as a cliffhanger.

[agere_contra]

Articles should kick in immediately. We shouldn’t have to spend 28 seconds reading them.

[ChurtleDawg]

but there is no “public option”. That got taken out of the Obamacare bill.

[DJ MacWoW]

Another anonymous source story from the lefty Politico trashing a Repub. So what’s new.

[pnh102]

I fail to see how Dr. Harris’ asking if he could purchase stopgap insurance until the regular insurance kicks in is a “gateway to national socialist medicine.” Many people who switch jobs run into this same problem, and we usually pay for a month or so of insurance from our previous employers to cover the gap.

[roses of sharon]

Of course Politico and the Dem staffer who leaked from a private meeting are pretending that this new Rep is demanding Obamacare right now! LOL

And of course there are Freepers carrying MSM/DNC water as usual.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Nix said Harris, who is the father of five, wasn’t being hypocritical – he was just pointing out the inefficiency of government-run health care.

That's the quote that should have been excerpted. Although it was clear to me from the start of the article that they guy was making a point of how government didn't do anything better, and it was absurd to count on the government to run health care.

When's the last time you heard a story about how responsive a government agency was? On a walk last week, one liberal regaled us about his 6-months struggle to get some answer from the government about something, how they had a web site for inquiries that was never answered or updated, and it was just funny thinking about that same group running our health care system.

[DJ MacWoW]

And of course there are Freepers carrying MSM/DNC water as usual.

They haven't learned anything from the Bush story of last week or so. That was an anonymous source too. But if the left says it, anonymous or not, it HAS to be true! LOL

[tanknetter]

I fail to see how Dr. Harris’ asking if he could purchase stopgap insurance until the regular insurance kicks in is a “gateway to national socialist medicine.” Many people who switch jobs run into this same problem, and we usually pay for a month or so of insurance from our previous employers to cover the gap.

I agree. From a political perspective, he should have pulled the presenter aside afterward and asked the question privately - and this shows a certain level of political tone-deafness. However he IS, asking about the terms of his employer-based coverage. Just happens that his employer is the US Taxpayer via the US Congress.

I don't recall stripping Federal employees - including Members of Congress - of their health care insurance being an issue in the campaign. Let alone one that swept the GOP back into power. Or did I miss something?

I think the big issue here is that once he's a Member of Congress he's covered by the various rules banning gifts and such. So he probably can't continue his Johns-Hopkins coverage because that constitute a gift. So, in the practical sense, his question is appropriate.