Fact Check: Is Congress Exempt From the G.O.P. Health Bill?

[demmiblue]

Source: NYT

WASHINGTON — Accusations of hypocrisy greeted the House passage of the amended American Health Care Act on Thursday, as people were outraged — erroneously — by claims that the bill does not apply to Congress.

It is true that the bill exempted lawmakers from its provisions. But a subsequent piece of legislation, which the House approved, eliminated the exemption, effectively nullifying that claim. The Senate now will consider both bills.

Timothy S. Jost, a health care expert at Washington and Lee University School of Law, said the exemption “was done for arcane budget reasons and many did not realize it.” He was one of the first people to notice the quirk.

...

But in the end, none of that came to pass. A separate bill offered by Representative Martha E. McSally, Republican of Arizona, eliminated the congressional exemption from the House health plan. Her bill was overwhelmingly approved by the House — meaning that Congress will live by the same health care rules as other Americans.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/04/us/politics/fact-check-congress-exemption-republican-health-bill.html

[lapfog_1]

1. But only if the second bill passes the Senate and is signed by the President

Doing it this way (as opposed to an amendment to the AHCA) allows it to die in committee in the Senate while they pass some version of the AHCA.

They hope no one will be watching.

[demmiblue]

2. I posted this because several people have claimed that the House version voted on yesterday...

exempts members of Congress.

It was easy to miss the last minute change since they were desperate to push it through.


Edit: whoops

[TheBlackAdder]

3. They're exempt from insider trading, sitting on panels that decide futures and position their stocks

[dumbcat]

4. I'm not clear on what they are being exempt from?

As I understand the new bill, it does away with the individual mandate. So no one, including Congresspersons, are compelled to buy any kind of health insurance policy. They, like everyone else, can buy whatever health care insurance policy they want.

So what has changed?

[marybourg]

5. They get their insurance from their employer. nt

[Eyeball_Kid]

6. Congress will NOT live by the same rules!

Congresspeople are very wealthy. Nearly all of them. Paying for health care isn't a problem for them. They're in a separate class. If they don't have pre-existing conditions covered in any health care plan, they can always PAY EXTRA for the benefit. And they will. You will NEVER see a member of Congress come up short on medical services because they can pay for anything they'd like.

[Tanuki]

7. Actually,

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/politics/members-of-congress-and-their-aides-wont-be-exempted-in-the-gop-health-care-plan-but-theyre-unlikely-to-feel-the-impact-much-anyway/2017/05/04/d9ebe492-30fe-11e7-9dec-764dc781686f_story.html

..."Members of Congress and their aides are unlikely to feel the impact of these changes, however, because they generally obtain health insurance through the small-group exchange operated by the Affordable Care Act-friendly District of Columbia. If the D.C. government continues to enforce the ACA’s protections, which most experts believe it will, lawmakers and staff could end up with more robust and less expensive coverage than constituents in states that are not as friendly to Obamacare.

“Even though they’re no longer exempting themselves, I think the likelihood of any of them facing higher premiums for preexisting conditions or not having access to a comprehensive set of benefits is pretty unlikely,” said Cynthia Cox, associate director for the Program for the Study of Health Reform and Private Insurance at the Kaiser Family Insurance at the Kaiser Family Foundation, in an interview.".......(More at link)