The first item on this election campaign's Contract with America was that, if elected (as they have been), the House Republicans would require that all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply to Congress. We'll see if that and the other promised reforms materialize, but it does raise yet another issue in the context of Obamacare.As my colleague Michael Cannon pointed out to me, the new health care law kicks congressmen out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. (The current FEHB is no different from the health coverage provided by any private employer --- federal employees choose from a series of private plan options (none of which is run by the government), and receive a subsidy from the federal government acting in its role as an employer.)
My first reaction to hearing this was: Good -- if the rest of us lose our health care freedom, so should those who forced this new atrocity on us. But apparently this result was not intended, so the Obama administration has decided to ignore that part of the law.
No joke. Here is the Congressional Research Service report on the provisions that oust members of Congress from their health insurance. And here is the letter in which an Obama appointee announces that the administration will ignore the law. These two New York Times articles also provide important information.
Hit the link for the rest of the info. Makes me want to reformat Washington and start over.