Are the health insurance plans provided to the US Senate and House members considered 'Cadillac'?

[Union Yes]

Will they tax their own health insurance too?

Or will Dems be Dems and Thugs be thugs by sticking it only to the working person and the poor?

What party really won in '08?

[Warpy]

1. No, but they certainly should be

Management always insists a pol's feet be anointed and kissed frequently to fool them into thinking the whole rotten system is just fine.

[Joe Bacon]

13. Oh, they're Rolls-Royces, not mere Cadillacs

Remember that they have their own special health clinics right in the Capital where they can get free care on top of their Federal Employee Health benefits.

[DJ13]

2. Its probably a sure thing their insurance is exempt

[MadHound]

3. No, their plans are called "exempt"

It's just us poor prols who will be picking up another bill.

[safeinOhio]

4. I may be wrong, but I thought

the tax was on the employer, not the employ. So, that would amount to a tax on US Government.

[subterranean]

6. Actually, the tax would be on the insurance provider. nt

[dflprincess]

9. Who will just factor the tax into the premium cost

so in the end the employer and employees do pay it.

[subterranean]

14. In one way or another, yes, the employee will end up paying.

[subterranean]

5. I doubt they're expensive enough to be Cadillac plans.

I'm sure they set the bar high enough that their own plans wouldn't be affected.

[FLDCVADem]

7. Some of them are

I'm a federal employee (don't use fed insurance though)and one of the family plans is $233/pay period, which is $6058 annually. The government pays 72% of the premium, so the total premium would be $21,636. Add in co-pays and FSAs, and there's your Cadillac plan.

[applegrove]

8. I think a cadillac plan is one that costs more than $23,000 per family or around $9000 per person.

[KittyWampus]

10. No, those are "Lexus" plans

[janet118]

11. I read the sweetheart health insurance plan . . .

my state legislators get and I would gladly sign on. Here's an outline of their insurance plan:

Mass. legislators receive $61,439 per year. That figure does not include bonus pay, travel pay, parking allotments, and $7,200 for "general expenses." For health insurance, their family plans have monthly premiums that range from $971 to $1786 and individual plans with premiums from $404 to $755. Depending on their date of election, legislators pay only 20 to 25 percent of those premiums, the rest of the tab (the other 75 to 80 percent) is picked up by us, Mass. taxpayers.

Oh yeah, they do have to pay extra for vision/dental. Those plans cost between $79 and $111 monthly for families and $25 and $36 for individuals. The legislators pay only 15% for these plans, the state pays the other 85%.

I'm sure that the U.S. Congress gets as good or a better deal. I feel like we are mere peasants begging for crumbs from the elected "royalty" in Congress. Who scold us for "not taking responsibility for ourselves" and for "wanting the government to take care of us." All the while those exalted ones are working extra hard to please their corporate contributors, we are paying for their gold standard health care. We need to cut their benefits, maybe make them pay some of those high deductibles and co-pays that we do, maybe make them pay 40 or 50 percent of their premiums, maybe make them form a co-op, maybe they can use their corporate contributions to pay for their insurance. They won't get a clue about what we are going through out here in "real" America until they and their families have to deal with the kind of things we do. Only then, they will understand the urgent need to get us some relief.

[KG]

12. Rolls Royce