Posted on 01/14/2014 4:12:41 PM PST by Kaslin
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RUSH: Turning to Obamacare for a moment. From The Politico: "A vast majority..." This is a tear-jerker, folks. Prepare to get really sad and maybe even shed some tears here.
"A vast majority of top congressional aides say in a new survey that they are concerned about the effects of Obamacare on their staff, ticking off worries about changes to their benefits, higher costs and whether they’ll have access to local health care providers." Now, these are the people... Let me remind you, this is congressional staff. These are people that earn anywhere from $95,000 to $170,000 a year.
These are the people who have already been granted subsidies up to 75%, and this story from The Politico is all about how these people say, in a new survey, that they are still worried. They are still concerned about the effects of Obamacare on them, and the things they list that are troubling them are changes to their benefits, they can't keep their doctor or their plan, higher costs, premiums are going up (and so is the deductible), and whether they'll have access to local health care providers.
It's back to they can't keep their doctor if they like him. They're worried about that, even though they've been granted 75% subsidies. "Ninety percent of staffers surveyed for a report released Monday by the Congressional Management Foundation said they are concerned about benefit changes under [Obamacare], while 86% are anxious about the financial hit and 79% cited worries to access," even having access to any health care.
These are the people that got a 75% subsidy. These are the people that wrote Obamacare. These are congressional staffers. These are not just the elected officials. These are the people that work for them. These aides are getting 75% of their premiums subsidized by the taxpayers. By the way, The Politico does not mention that in this tear-jerker story. Additionally, most of the congressional staff in this story are young.
"Only about 35% of staffers said they have a 'good understanding' of the changes to their health care plan under Obamacare, according to the survey. Under the health care law, all members of Congress and most congressional aides were required to enroll in the exchanges, " but they cried and belly ached about that. Do you remember? They said, "We don't want to do it! It's too expensive! We don't have... We can't afford it! We're only making $170,000 a year; we can't afford it."
So Obama came in and said, "Okay, we'll give you subsidies, but not through the exchanges. I can't do that. We'll pay up to 75% of your premiums through the Office of Personnel Management." Now, if this sounds familiar, you're right. It is. It sounds like a rerun of an article, story that we've seen dozens of times. But here's the upshot of this, folks. Despite having written the law, despite getting a 75% subsidy of their premiums (which, again, The Politico doesn't mention in this tear-jerker), despite getting an illegal carve-out for some of these staffers, congressional aides are still threatening to quit.
That's where the story ultimately goes. Congressional aides are threatening to quit their jobs over Obamacare. Now, the question is obvious. If these, for the most part, young and very well paid and heavily subsidized people do not want Obamacare -- they wrote it, they're intimately aware of it, and even they have questions that they don't have answers to. Add all this up, 75% subsidy, they're young, they make between 95 and $170,000 a year and the prospect's too daunting. They don't think they can afford it. They don't think it's gonna work. They're not really gonna get health care, and they're threatening to quit.
Now, if that's the case, what do they think the rest of us will do, especially young people? Nobody's getting 75% subsidies. Nobody in their income levels are. Folks, what a great illustration here. Look at how isolated inside the Beltway bureaucrats are from the rest of the country. I'll just mention it again. They earn between 95 and $170,000. They are being subsidized, their premiums, 75%. Not all of them, but they're all getting subsidizes. The maximum amount is 75%. I don't know how many of 'em get that, but it's a lot. And they're nervous, and they're worried, and it's so bad they're threatening to quit.
Do they ever think of people outside the Beltway who earn 50 or 60? Do they ask themselves how anybody else is gonna afford this? What must they think? What an illustration of the wall of separation that exists between the inside the Beltway denizens and their mentality and the rest of the country, popularly known as flyover country? This is just amazing to me. At least they were honest on this survey, ticking off the things they're worried about.
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Most of these aides are probably expecting to go to work for a law firm in DC where they can make anywhere from $700 an hour and up.
And talk about connected... You hire an attorney to deal with the FCC because the attorney is friends with one of the FCC attorneys. This is to get approval to build a radio tower and if you don’t hire the connected you don’t get it approved. So they can charge whatever the hell they please!
So NO they have no clue how things in the real world works outside DC, absolutely no clue.
What? Like this will stop them from hitting the local Glory Hole?
Well, I’m not concerned. That’s what they get for working for the very people who voted for Affordable Health Care.
Hard to be concerned for people that make way more money than most of us.
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