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Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) announced Thursday in a “Dear Colleague” letter that he would be introducing bicameral legislation with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who tried to attach a similar amendment to the reform act and the reconciliation bill. The legislation would require all Congressional staffers — and top White House officials — to buy their health plans through state-run exchanges created in the act. Currently, the reform act could be interpreted to only require Members and the staffers in their personal offices to enter the exchange, according to a Congressional Research Service memo.
“Many of my colleagues and I believe that the expansion of government control over health care was the wrong approach to take,” Burgess, who is an obstetrician, writes in the letter. “Regardless, if Congress has decided it is the right thing for our constituents, then all Members and staff, as well as the President, Vice President, and political appointees, should be mandated to be covered by plans operating in an exchange.”
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This health care law is incremental and while it provides the insured with greater security, it’s not intended to separate employees from their employer-based coverage. Congressional staffers, like all federal employees, already participate in FEHBP, the exchange that inspired these exchanges and (were it not for this requirement) could enroll in the exchanges once they open to large employers. So this particular loophole scandal is something Republicans manufactured to hold them over until they find something else to sink their teeth into.
So while they're screaming that they plan to repeal the law and declaring the mandate unconstitutional, they're introducing legislation to strengthen the mandate?
Kooky.
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