Posted on 11/21/2013 6:01:22 PM PST by markomalley
Veteran House Democratic aides are sick over the insurance prices they’ll pay under Obamacare, and they’re scrambling to find a cure.
“In a shock to the system, the older staff in my office (folks over 59) have now found out their personal health insurance costs (even with the government contribution) have gone up 3-4 times what they were paying before,” Minh Ta, chief of staff to Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), wrote to fellow Democratic chiefs of staff in an email message obtained by POLITICO. “Simply unacceptable.”
In the email, Ta noted that older congressional staffs may leave their jobs because of the change to their health insurance.
Under the Affordable Care Act, and federal regulations, many congressional staffers — designated as “official” aides — were forced to move out of the old heavily subsidized Federal Employees Health Benefits program and into the District of Columbia’s health insurance marketplace exchange. Others designated as “unofficial” were allowed to stay in the FEHB program. Managers had to choose whether aides were “official” or “unofficial” by Oct. 31, and Ta said that wasn’t enough time to make an informed decision about who would benefit and who would lose out by going into the new system.
Moore’s office was one of those in which all staff were designated as “official” and pushed into the exchanges. That ended up being a problem for older staff, who weren’t accustomed to paying higher premiums because of their age.
But age is one of the few factors insurers can use to adjust prices under Obamacare — and older people will often pay much more than younger people.
For instance, the premiums for gold-level Aetna HMO plans in D.C. cost an average of $684.40 per month for a 55-year-old. A similar plan would cost an average of $287.11 for a 27-year-old. The gold-level CareFirst HMO plans have an average premium of $573.07 for a 55-year-old — more than double the $240.41 average for 27-year-olds. That’s before the federal employee contribution toward the premium.
In an interview with POLITICO, Ta emphasized that “employees are not dissatisfied with the Affordable Care Act” and that some younger staffers have seen their premiums fall. But, he noted, congressional aides are treated differently now than other federal employees, and he would like to be able to offer the best health insurance option available to his employees — even if that means some of them are covered under the old system and others jump into the exchanges.
He wrote in his email that he had asked Democratic staff on the House Administration Committee whether she could redesignate some of the aides on Moore’s payroll as nonofficial office staff so that they could avoid the exchange and keep their FEHB plans.
“So far the answer is no, and that we have the opportunity next year to redesignate staff,” Ta wrote. “I am asking for a solution now though because I will lose staff in my office because of this snafu and I mentioned to payroll and House Admin[istration Committee] that it was unfair for our offices to make this designation without allowing our staff the ability [to] actually go on the DCshop to compare rates. I would have made a different decision on the designation of my older staff.”
Ta concluded by asking other chiefs of staff to join him in petitioning the Administration Committee for an immediate fix. Glenn Rushing, chief of staff to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, quickly replied to the group that he would join the fight.
wow
“snafu” my rear end
If you voted for it you deserve it!
Eat Your Peas!
Title should have read “BWahahahahahah alert”
Love it!
The people who wrote the PP&ACA don’t know what is in it? Does that sound credulous to you?
Welcome to the real world Obama lovers.
LMAO, this may be so bad that Democrat Congressional staffer will be voting against Democrats.
And they get subsidies.
The people that wrote it really do not know what is in it.
Sebelius and Obama keep changing it and adding regulations.
This isn’t a law it’s an open way to destroy the Middle class and take away any money Americans might have to spend at small business’s. Thereby killing small business.
I would like to get my re-designation now. We get one too, right? What? I can't hear you over the crickets.
Sorry, dear, waivers are for Democrats....
A good, hard kick in the ‘nads? The aparatchniks? I missed it.
Can I see it again?
‘Sure, kid.’
“Ow, My Balls!”
By heavily subsidized they mean 70% of the premium is covered by the government for a choice of policies that mostly break down to an 80% /20% insurance/benificiary benefit. When the employees are move to the exchanges the government pays up to 75% for what ends up being the same cost breakdown with higher deductibles.
I wonder how many chiefs of staff are career federal employees. One would think if they aren't they could easily move to K street if the health coverage is so bad. They could also punch their boss in the face for not designating them as an employee that gets to keep their FEHB.
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQZ9kW3VzhB7uU2WxL0xk8_U2TlHobHM_cXR0OErTLEvTIqRK6J3g
Gwennie is my Congresswoman. This is really delicious.
Perhaps they doth complain too much.
How about never?
Who wooda thunk it? Congressional aids finding out that they’re really just peasants like the rest of us.
we should never have been subsidizing their insurance to start with
I can and I do get my care from the VA, when I have a good year I use BC/BS and insure myself wife and kids. We paid $700 month in 2011 and it went up about 25% a year.
I’m amused but not surprised by the fact that everybody whether they are on the left or right are so surprised by how much health insurance costs.
Something that is overlooked here is that most Americans don’t know or care what the actual costs are.
This is a huge problem for any fiscal conservative. We can say cut spending but with the American medicare/welfare state existing as it does simple math says healthcare spending for baby boomers in the next 40 years will bankrupt the USA.
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