The Los Angeles Times reports on the solid gold – hell, solid platinum – medical insurance benefits Congress and Federal employees enjoy. Make that wallow in. At some $15 billion annual cost.
Among the advantages: a choice of 10 healthcare plans that provide access to a national network of doctors, as well as several HMOs that serve each member’s home state. By contrast, 85% of private companies offering health coverage provide their employees one type of plan — take it or leave it.
Lawmakers also get special treatment at Washington’s federal medical facilities and, for a few hundred dollars a month, access to their own pharmacy and doctors, nurses and medical technicians standing by in an office conveniently located between the House and Senate chambers.
In all, taxpayers spent about $15 billion last year to insure 8.5 million federal workers and their dependents, including postal service employees, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
Generous plans are available in private industry. But the federal coverage far surpasses that enjoyed by 70 million Americans who are underinsured and at financial risk in the event of a major health crisis — not to mention the estimated 46 million who have no medical insurance.
“For the average worker, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan would probably look quite attractive,” said Pete Sepp, a spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, a pinch-penny advocacy group.
Indeed, a question often surfaces: Why can’t everyone enjoy the same benefits as members of Congress? The answer: The country probably couldn’t afford it — not without reforms to bring costs way, way down.
There are no limits to coverage, there are no pre-existing conditions and there are no waiting periods.
Barack Obama and Peter Orszag want to limit your access to health care and force “cost-effective” rules on your very life without having to suffer the same substandard treatment. They do not have to worry, they have you and me paying for whatever they want. You, to them, are not worthy of the same benefits.
Do you want to be Orszaged? Do you want to be deemed unworthy of treatment? Do you realize they are pushing this “reform” so that there is more for them?
If we as a nation cannot afford care for the elderly other than a handful of pills, we sure as hell cannot afford to give Congress and Federal employees benefits like these.
Either they all get ObamaCare or none of us have to suffer it, either.
“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others!”
A rational person should be aware that there really are different classes of people even in a democracy/republic; but when they rub your nose in this fact day in and day out, it gets a bit wearing.
Apparently, part of the numbers includes retired military– along with just about anyone else who’s getting a check from the gov’t after being employed for them.
From this, we know some of the plans *really* stink and have next to zero choices.
(tri-care—evil, nasty, horrible, ick. Well, exactly what you’d expect from gov’t run health care, really….)
((Note: Trying to find where they got their numbers, and not having much luck– the site is a great example of high gov’t design. Ugh.)
Another thing that needs to be looked at is Congressional pensions:
“Members who participated in the congressional pension system are vested after five (5) years of service. A full pension is available to Members 62 years of age with 5 years of service”
So every single Senator who has served even one term since 1946 (when Congress started getting pensions) gets a full pension at age 62.
Personally, I don’t want people thinking of Congress as a “career”. They should have made their career in some other line of work.
In fact, I wish people would ask their “Members” in town hall meetings if they have been successful in anything else in life or have they spend their whole working life living on the taxpayer’s money.
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