Posted on 10/15/2013 12:24:08 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
If House Republicans get their way in budget talks, White House spokesman Jay Carney may be forced to make good on his pledge to sign up for Obamacare if his private insurance plan is dropped.
House GOP leaders have pressed during the government shutdown fight to significantly delay or defund the president's signature healthcare reform laws. But with those efforts failing to take hold, Republicans on Tuesday shifted fears and are seeking to extract a different health care concession: Forcing members of Congress, President Obama and top White House officials to enroll in the law's insurance exchanges without subsidies.
Carney is already on the record saying he would enroll if he loses his current employer-provided health care.
In late September, in anticipation of the Oct. 1 rollout of the law's online insurance exchanges, Fox News' Ed Henry asked Carney whether he would sign up for Obamacare.
“Absolutely,” said Carney. “If I did not have employer-provided health insurance ... then I would absolutely enroll.” He added that the Obamacare option would be more affordable than other plans in the private market.
House GOP leaders on Tuesday floated a broad proposal to reopen the federal government and raise the nation's debt limit. The plan also delays a tax on medical devices and would eliminate insurance subsidies for members of Congress. The plan was presented to rank-and-file members of the GOP caucus behind closed doors and leaders were revising the proposal ahead of a possible vote.
Regardless of the bill's final form, House Republicans insist they will make it a priority to ensure that Washington lives by the laws it passes. They say any bill they move must eliminate insurance subsidies for members of Congress, President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and White House political appointees if they purchase health insurance under Obamacare's exchanges.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Tuesday that any budget solution must include what he called “our position on fairness” -- “no special treatment under the law.”
Congress has balked at having to participate in Obamacare after a provision from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, required 11,000 lawmakers and staff to lose the generous coverage they now have as part of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Instead, they would get the lower-quality plan that offers fewer choices, known as “Medicaid Plus” in the exchanges.
Members and their better-paid aides also wouldn't qualify for Obamacare subsidies under the law, which means they could be exposed to thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket insurance costs.
After pressure from both parties, Obama ordered an exemption allowing congressional offices to continue to receive subsidies for insurance.
House Republicans are now pushing to put those subsidies on the cutting block in any deal to end the shutdown and avoid a default.
Good. They should never have been excluded in the first place as it is the LAW OF THE LAND.
Did they exempt themselves ? If members of Congress are on a federal benefits plan that meets the standards of Obamacare they shouldn’t have to give it up just like no other employer has been forced to forego standard employer based coverage.
No - a bill is not law unless the President signs it into law. So there is no rationale to exclude the President.
Rush agreed and said....Send that idea to Boehner.
I was offering a compromise.
Obama couldn’t care less if he and Congress are forced by law into Obamacare. He will simply start issuing waivers again, and no one would be able to do anything about it.
If they want Obamacare, they should want all of it for everyone. It would be great to hear Obama/Reid explain why it is good for us but not for them.
No waivers should be part of the compromise.
If they are forced into it, maybe they will finally READ the **** law.
they also write their raises - and will just give themselves a new raise to cover the cost - but they will look like the heroes of compromise.
Is everyone brain dead?
his staff and cabinet aren’t special. let sebelius go ahead and the rest of them, all their staffers, sign up for obamadeathcare.
If Boner needs the idea planted in his head, he’s even more worthless than I thought.
These are pretty meaningless concessions as far as the general public is concerned. What health plans Congress has doesn’t make any difference in how Obamacare will affect our lives. A delay of the medical device tax is not good enough. A bad tax is a bad tax today or tomorrow.
I thought they were supposed to be asking for proper income verification before the moochers can get subsidies? That is something that is helpful to the entire country. The primary, overwhelming problem with Obamacare is that it hands out more free taxpayer cash to moochers. No compromise is worth squat unless it reduces or eliminates the mooch factor.
Reducing the tax burden of Obamacare while doing nothing to reduce its spending is the same crap the GOP has been doing for a decade. They cut taxes, the Dems increase spending, and we go deeper into debt. Cutting every tax associated with the law while not decreasing its spending will just add to the debt and force us to pay the bills down the road with interest added. Cutting taxes without decreasing might be fine if it’s part of a growth package, but Obamacare is not a growth package. It can only decrease economic growth since it encourages more moochers to not work.
Evidently, he (Boner) needs ideas planted in his head. Time will tell.
We have a lawless President. The law could specifically state that Obama can grant no waivers. Once passed by the House and the Senate and signed by the President, Obama would then commence to grant waivers. No one would stop him.
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