What Does Congress Get? Healthcare Benefits

[tomm2thumbs]

Interesting - sorry if an ad is the first part, I could not find this on YouTube so posting here.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5382782n

Text of audio... for hearing impaired:

As members of Congress debate a "public option" for health care coverage, they remain safe and secure in their own generous health plan. CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports it's subsidized by millions of your tax dollars annually. The government doesn't even keep track the total cost.

What exactly does Congress get? Sen. Lindsey Graham agreed to show CBS News first hand, flashing his Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance card. Blue Cross Blue Shield is one of five plans offered to members of Congress. Most Americans, 74 percent are offered only one plan - if their employer offers insurance at all. And members of Congress earn $174,000 a year - triple the income of the average working-age household. Yet their premiums are about the same. For them, there's no coverage limit - a major factor for the American families bankrupted or thrown into poverty by health care costs.

Pre-existing conditions? No problem for congressmen and women. The rest of us are out of luck. And the elected officials get still more perks most Americans can only dream of. Got a cold? You probably have to take time off work and wait to see a doctor. Not Congress.

"We're able to access that health care 24 hours a day when we're in Washington," Graham said, leading us to the Attending Physician's Office, a clinic inside the U.S. Capitol. They don’t even have to leave the office.

About half of the members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, use the Attending Physician benefit. For $42 a month, they can get all the primary care they need - physical therapy, X-rays, minor surgery, specialists and a pharmacy for emergencies - no appointment needed. They also get VIP hospital treatment from the best doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital. And they have a reserved spot at the elite Ward 72 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where the late Sen. Strom Thurmond spent a lot of time. Outpatient care is free. Well, free for them. Your tax dollars pick up the cost. Graham says in the current climate, it's just not fair.

"If we pass a law that says a public option will be made available, I think people like myself should get out of this plan and go into the public option," he said.

That's unlikely. Congress has voted down all proposals that would switch them to a public option. Even if you're mad enough to vote out your representatives, they still won't have to stress over health care. Their plan is portable. Until Medicare kicks in, they can keep the generous coverage for themselves and their families at the same low cost, still subsidized by your tax dollars.

[Angry Dragon]

1. So.......

So if I understand this, you are saying once and if they leave congress they still have access to the same benefits??

[tomm2thumbs]

2. it sounds like we subsidize them for the rest of their lives - according to what I hear

Even a one-term or part-term member of Congress - Is that how you read it too?

[Angry Dragon]

4. I had heard

about the special health benefits that they had but was not aware of the long lasting part of this. If that is the case then we really need to stop all this bullshit. They need to start living under the same rules as all of us.

[madokie]

3. And thats why they don't give two shits about what we have or get

sorry bastids anyway. I'm VA and wish everyone has the same access to healthcare that we vets have.

[east texas lib]

5. That's on top of the automatic raises and lifelong pension plan...

Nice gig if you can get it.;)

[Captain Hilts]

6. LIFETIME govt-sponsored healthcare!! I see the VIPs entering Bethesda Naval. nt

[The Court Jester]

7. A severe shortage

There isn't enough vaseline in the entire world to make up for what they do to us on a daily basis.
Both parties have been usurped by a breed of vampires that are sucking the life blood out of the American people.

[Delphinus]

15. Welcome to DU, Court Jester.

And, boy, do you have it right!

[msongs]

8. parasites of the ruling class - dedicated to prostituting themselves to corporations for pay offs nt

[MercutioATC]

9. To be clear (except for the Attending Physician benefit) ALL federal employees get the same plan(s).

It's called FEHBP and we all get it.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. Congress members get a choice of 5 plans

and I guess you do to. The vast majority of Americans get no choice. You do. Shall we assume that you also pay the 1 or 2% of income that Congress members pay for premiums, while asking the rest of us to do double digit percentages? Do you all share in that as well?

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. +1 nt

[Bluenorthwest]

12. The claim that all federal employees get the same benefits

as members of Congress is just as false as can be. Serve one year in the House, you have benefits to the grave. That is not true of 'all fed employees'. And if they are all getting coverage as cheaply as Congress, no wonder they don't want change, no wonder we are broke. Our servants are being treated like royalty while our children go without.

[MercutioATC]

14. You're sadly misinformed.

All federal employees get the option to carry FEHBP into retirement. Members of Congress are just eligible to retire after a single term.

...and our plans aren't all that inexpensive, our employer (as with many employers) subsidizes a portion of our premiums (in the case of federal employees...ALL federal employees...it's about 2/3.

[MercutioATC]

13. It depends on your geographic location. I get a choice of about a dozen.

...and premiums aren't based on income, all federal employees (whether they make $17k/year or $170k/year) have the same options and pay the same premiums.

I'll pay about 4 1/2% of my gross income in premiums next year. Members of Congress will pay about 3 1/2%.