Today's GOP spiraling bullet point:
Sen Ted Cruz
et al. and the GOP are now spinning a deteriorating and spiraling POV
that Obamacare "gives special exemptions to Congress... over the rights of individual citizens"
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As posted here earlier, during the 2010 debate over the Affordable Care Act,
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, proposed (a poison pill) amendment requiring members of Congress
and their staffs to purchase health insurance though state exchanges.
Democrats, viewing the amendment as a political stunt,
co-opted the idea as their own and inserted it into the bill.
Congressional members are paid by the US Government.
Some of their congressional staff are paid by the US Government,
but some "staff members" are
not employees of the US Government,
such as the member's election committee staff, home district office staff, etc.
Thus,
the US Government is the "employer" to all Congress members and some of their staff.
Cutting more directly to the point...
FactCheck.org
9/27/13
No ‘Special Subsidy’ for Congress
Quote:
The exchanges were intended for uninsured people who
couldn't get health insurance through their employer or qualify for Medicaid.
Those who had access to health benefits meeting minimum coverage levels
could still purchase insurance on the exchanges
— but without a subsidy and using after-tax income.
Holding members of Congress and their staffs to that standard would have
the effect of stripping them of the employer-paid health coverage they currently get,
which is the same as any other federal employee.
So the Office of Personnel Management issued a proposed rule in August
making clear that the government would continue to pay the employer contribution
for congressional health benefits at the same rate as if members were still on the federal plan.
Quote:
Congress isn’t “exempt” from the law.
It wasn’t exempt back in 2010, when we first debunked such a claim;
nor were lawmakers exempt in May when the bogus bit surfaced again.
Three months later, they’re still not exempt.
In fact, as we’ve said before, lawmakers and their staffs
face additional requirements that other Americans don’t.
And the “special subsidy” to which Pittenger refers is simply
a premium contribution that his employer, the federal government,
has long made to the health insurance policies of its workers.
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