Hey, get used to it. Once you get in, the water’s fine!
(NaturalNews) Older Democratic staffers on Capitol Hill likely supported their bosses' decisions to back the president on Obamacare because they, like tens of millions of others, believed all of Obama's BS promises about the law.Well, they too are finding out, like the rest of us, that what was promised and what is reality regarding Obamacare are two completely different things.
Take the price of plans, for instance. Obama promised repeatedly that not only could Americans keep their plans but he would "work with employers" to reduce the annual cost of premiums "by $2,500."
Yeah, that's not happening either, as these older Dem staffers are now finding out.
According to Politico:
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."
I wonder if Ta finds it "simply unacceptable" for the rest of us to pay higher premiums as well. Don't you just love the entitlement mentality of the ruling class?
'Can we put them back in the subsidized category?'
In the email, Ta said that older congressional staffers may just to leave their jobs because of the dramatic price increase of health insurance. After tens of millions of Americans lose their current plans because of Obamacare, I can't see them caring much about what happens to anyone on Capitol Hill.
Under provisions of Obamacare, as well as federal regulations, a number of congressional staffers - those designated as "official" aides - were forced out of the old, heavily (taxpayer) subsidized Federal Employees Health Benefits program and into D.C.'s Obamacare health insurance exchange. Others who were designated "unofficial" were permitted to remain 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," Politico reported.
In a bid to be too clever by half, Moore was one who designated all her staff as "official," thereby pushing them into the exchanges. Turns out, that's a huge problem for older staffers who, unlike the rest of America, were not used to paying higher premiums on account of their age.
Call this a "Congress meets the real world" moment.
That's because age is one of those factors that insurance companies are still "allowed" to use to adjust rates under the provisions of Obamacare. And older people, who are more at risk, tend to pay higher prices than younger Americans.
Oops.
'So far the answer is no'
More from Politico:
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.
Ta told Politico that "employees are not dissatisfied with the Affordable Care Act" (they are Democratic staffers - what else would he say? "It's Bush's fault?") and that some of the younger staffers were seeing premiums fall. But he added that congressional aides are not treated the same as other federal employees, and he is simply trying to get them the best deal possible.
In his email, Ta asked Democratic staff on the House Administration Committee if his boss could redesignate some of her aides as nonofficial office staff, so they could get out of the exchanges and back into an FEHB plan.
"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 [the] 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."
You know what else is "unfair?" Saddling the American people with this horrible law while doing everything they can in D.C. to exempt themselves.
Sources:
http://www.politico.com
http://www.forbes.com
http://www.foxnews.com
