Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) Will File A Lawsuit Forcing His Staff To Pay More For Health Insurance

[Tx4obama]

Senator Will File A Lawsuit Forcing His Staff To Pay More For Health Insurance

on October 30, 2013 at 5:20 pm

The LA Times’ Mike Memoli reports that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) will file a lawsuit to prevent Congressional staffers and lawmakers from receiving subsidies when they purchase coverage in the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges, substantially increasing their health care costs.

Under current law, lawmakers and some of their aides will be required to drop their existing health care coverage in the tax-subsidized Federal Health Benefits Program (FEHB) and enroll in the insurance exchanges at the core of the health law beginning on Oct 1. Though Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) — the author of the amendment responsible for the shift — had initially stipulated that Congressional employees “use their existing employer contribution” to buy insurance, the final law did not specifically mention the role of the employer, leaving regulators concerned that the language could prohibit the government from contributing to the insurance costs of Congressional employees and leave poorly-paid aides responsible for the full cost of coverage.

In August, after the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ruled that the Congress can apply their employer contributions towards their exchange plans, Republicans pledged to forfeit the contribution and fight to undo “special exemption.” Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) introduced legislation to require Congressional and executive branch employees to sign up for Obamacare without the employer contribution and Republicans considered including the provision in legislation to re-open the federal government.

-snip-

Full article here: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/30/2863561/senator-file-lawsuit-increase-health-care-costs-congressional-staffers/

[Mnemosyne]

1. I hope this crap comes back and bites them hard. nt

[jeff47]

2. When asked for comment, Johnson's press secretary said...

..."The Senator will be releasing a prepared statement, right after he was done molesting young children."

[mysuzuki2]

3. what a dick

[Blue Owl]

4. A class-less action lawsuit if there ever was one

[pansypoo53219]

5. senator stupid married into his money. yeah.

asshole.

[Arneoker]

6. I tell people at my office of government contractors

Our company needs to go to Capitol Hill to do some recruiting.

[Myrina]

7. Sounds similar to what the asshole AG in Indiana is doing ...

... filed suit saying that since IN isn't participating in the exchanges, we shouldn't qualify for subsidies.

How does that even make ANY sense?

[Chan790]

8. Sen. Johnson may learn a hard lesson...

a member of Congress with a staff that hates him will rapidly become a laughing stock. A lot of power is invested in the hands of staffers, some poorly paid, that can be used in ways that are not immediately obvious to destroy a career.