Our political masters seem to be vexed by a problem of their own making, and we find out:
WASHINGTON — As President Obama barnstorms the country promoting his health care law, one audience very close to home is growing increasingly anxious about the financial implications of the new coverage: members of Congress and their personal staffs.
Under a wrinkle that dates back to enactment of the law, members of Congress and thousands of their aides are required to get their coverage through new state-based markets known as insurance exchanges. But the law does not provide any obvious way for the federal government to continue paying its share of the premiums for the comprehensive coverage. If the government cannot do so, it could mean an additional expense of $5,000 a year for individuals and $11,000 for families under some of the most popular plans.
Not surprisingly, that idea is unpopular on Capitol Hill.
Yeah, sure. We should be made to pony up money because of a nasty and stupid law they enacted, but they find it an inconvenience and are looking for ways to get around it?
In the current political climate, any effort to clear up the confusion excites suspicion. Tea Party groups say that lawmakers are seeking special treatment or an exemption from the law, an assertion flatly rejected by Democrats.
Representative Henry A. Waxman, a California Democrat who helped write the 2010 law, said, “The federal government, as our employer, should provide the same contributions it makes to our current health plans.” The Office of Personnel Management could establish that policy administratively, without legislation, he said.
Funny that. A democrat, and a member of the party that stuck us with this law, thinks the law shouldn’t apply to them at all. Loophole, or something….
We are nothing but their serfs to these people, and doubly so to the collectivists.