Politics and Money

[lesgetrich]

House GOP Votes Against Putting All Staff on Obamacare Exchanges

House Republicans last week voted down an amendment that would have required all of their staff members to purchase insurance from the federal health exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act.

Regarding the Grassley amendment to Obamacare which forces Congress to insure itself via Obamacare...

His amendment applies to all those “employed by the official office of a member of Congress,” raising the question of whether staff for congressional leadership and committees, as opposed to employees of each congressman’s personal office, are included.

Enter the Office of Personnel Management, which ruled that individual members can decide what “individual (official) office” means, allowing Republicans to exempt some of their personal-office employees. The DeSantis amendment would have taken away that freedom, forcing all Republican staffers onto the exchanges.

So the only ambiguity (and exemption) is regarding staff for Congressional leadership and committees. Remember, Obamacare was designed for people who aren't covered by their employer. It should never have been applied to Congress in the first place since Congress is employed by and was insured by the government. It's like arguing that Congress should place itself on welfare. While it may sound attractive it doesn't make any sense. Nevertheless, Congress is not exempt from Obamacare, only certain categories of staffers are.