IRS union concerned about enrolling in health care law's exchanges
The union representing most of the nearly 100,000 Internal Revenue Service workers has come out in opposition to a bill requiring that top government officials and federal employees be offered health plans through the Affordable Care Act exchanges, The Washington Examiner reported Friday.
Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., introduced his bill — HR1780 — in April in response to a rumor that legislators were seeking exemptions to health exchange requirements for members of Congress and their staffs.
"If the Obamacare exchanges are good enough for the hard-working Americans and small businesses the law claims to help, then they should be good enough for the president, vice president, Congress and federal employees," Camp spokeswoman Allie Walker said.
The National Treasury Employees Union's form letter, written for its members to send to both representatives and senators, opposes Camp's bill because it "would put federal employees in a special class where they would be prohibited from receiving health insurance through their employer."
full: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865583699/IRS-union-concerned-about-enrolling-in-health-care-laws-exchanges.html
When searching for ObamaCare news I noticed this story popping up among all the right wing sites; Deseret News (a newspaper in Utah) is the least crazy source i could find. The Washington Examiner links to this CapWiz.com form letter that begins:
"I am a federal employee and one of your constituents. I am very concerned about legislation that has been introduced by Congressman Dave Camp to push federal employees out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and into the insurance exchanges established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
"H.R. 1780 would put federal employees in a special class where they would be prohibited from receiving health insurance through their employer. It would treat federal employees differently from state and local government employees and most employees of large private sector companies who receive health insurance benefits through their employer. The primary purpose of the Affordable Care Act was to provide a marketplace for the sale and purchase of health insurance for those who do not have such coverage – not to take coverage away from employees who already receive it through their employers."
The NTEU also includes HR 1780 in its "Bad Bills" pamphlet.
I don't know why any of the labor blogs out there if they exist are covering this story. Maybe the right wing sources are making crap up? Missing the point?
= new reply since forum marked as read
