Forbes has more:MarketWatch: The White House has approved a deal that will exempt members of Congress and their staff from some of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, Politico reported late Thursday. Under the law, popularly referred to as Obamacare, lawmakers and their aides were required to source health insurance "created" by the law or offered through one of its exchanges, and without the subsidies they currently enjoy, the members of Congress would have faced thousands of dollars in additional premium payments each year, the report said. However, the Office of Personnel Management now plans to rule that the government can continue to make a contribution to the health-care premiums of the lawmakers and their staff, it said, citing unnamed congressional sources and a White House official.
All over the country, people are worried about how Obamacare will affect the cost and quality of their health coverage. Members of Congress and their staffs were especially panicked, because it appeared that the Affordable Care Act required them to purchase coverage on the law’s new insurance exchanges, but without the generous subsidy they receive for their current coverage. Capitol Hill collectively exhaled yesterday, when it came out that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management would allow members and their staffs to keep their insurance subsidies.Oh, they'll attach that to the 'must-pass spending bill,' but they won't defund it?! What tha... So the fix is in. They and their staffers get to keep their insurance, while behind closed doors, the leadership has agreed not to disrupt (i.e., defund) Obamacare. I'm sure the IRS Chief will be relieved along with the rest of the Washington ruling class. S.O.B.'s!
According to John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman of Politico, President Obama has personally involved himself in the controversy over whether or not Congressmen and Hill staffers should retain access to their insurance subsidies.
They also report that “some lawmakers have privately threatened to push through a legislative fix—possibly attached to a must-pass spending bill—that would require the government to continue its contributions for health care premiums for Hill employees.” But the White House fears that such a legislative change would “open a door for Obamacare opponents to try to unwind other parts of the 2010 legislation, and senior administration officials want to avoid that step.”
Bresnahan and Sherman now report that OPM has decided to allow the government to subsidize coverage for its employees on the exchanges. “A White House official confirmed the deal,” they report, “and said the proposed regulations will be issued next week.”
Related link: Obamacare: Congress Exempt From Affordable Care Act
ADDENDUM: Mark expressed the fury of millions on Friday...
"They are so lucky that we don't storm that building. I am not encouraging it in any respect, but you wanna see the difference between We The People and them?"
