Obama promised everyone would get the same health care as Congress. But Congress excepted its members and most of its staff from what they are forcing us into. Also the president and vice president. Are we surprised?
... The new health care law exempts the president from having to participate in it. Leadership and committee staffers in the House and Senate who wrote the bill are exempted as well. A weasel-worded definition of "staff" includes only the members' personal staff in the new system; the committee staff that drafted the legislation opted themselves out. Because they were more familiar with the contents of the law than anyone in the country, it says a lot that they carved out their own special loophole. Anyway, the law is intended to affect "ordinary Americans," according to Vice President Joe Biden (who - being a heartbeat away from the presidency - also is not covered), not Washington insiders.Update: Multiple sources find that Congressmen and their personal staffs have to go under ObamaCare (maybe they have their own private pool, versus the public pool they force us into, as the Washington Times described above), but Congressional committee staff and leadership staff will not be required to participate.Mr. Obama frequently tossed around the talking point that the new law gave people the same type of coverage as Congress enjoyed. In his March 20 health care pep talk to wavering Democrats on Capitol Hill, the president said one of the advantages of the health care legislation was that "people will have choice and competition just like members of Congress have choice and competition." At yesterday's signing ceremony, Mr. Obama said Americans will be "part of a big pool, just like federal employees are part of a big pool. They'll have the same choice of private health insurance that members of Congress get for themselves." But the American people will have a public pool; the executive branch and congressional staffers kept their country-club pool private.
Last year, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, spearheaded efforts to have all Americans included in the plan, but he ran into heavy opposition. ...
One such surprise is found on page 158 of the legislation, which appears to create a carve out for senior staff members in the leadership offices and on congressional committees, essentially exempting those senior Democrat staffers who wrote the bill from being forced to purchase health care plans in the same way as other Americans.Posted by Ron Hebron at March 25, 2010 01:21 PM | Email This
Can not recall, oh well it apply's. Posted by: yo yo its meo on March 25, 2010 01:44 PM
This proves Obama is the Anti-Christ.
Rejoice all you Christians, the end-times are near.
Posted by: Rush Limbaugh Fan on March 25, 2010 01:58 PM"Too often, much of late, the last couple three years the mal-distribution of income in America is gone up way too much, the wealthy are getting way, way too wealthy, and the middle income class is left behind. Wages have not kept up with increased income of the highest income in America. This legislation will have the effect of addressing that mal-distribution of income in America."
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Who the hell are these people? This health care reform has zero to do with health care. It's about control. And liberals have given it over.
Posted by: Gary on March 25, 2010 04:16 PMWell thank goodness that in 1995 when the Republicans took the majority of the Congress they delivered on their Contract With America to require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply to Congress.
Cuz if that hadn't happened....
I do not.
Posted by: Gary on March 25, 2010 04:43 PMWhy does the government mandate that we have children?
If they do mandate, wouldn't they outlaw homosexuality? Since as far as a I know gay sex doesn't produce children.
Posted by: Dengle on March 25, 2010 05:05 PMYa, quite a guy who said he wanted to UNITE this Nation.
I think NOT.
Posted by: Medic/Vet on March 25, 2010 05:10 PMPosted by MikeBoyScout at March 25, 2010 04:57 PM
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Care to SHOW us that? Posted by: Medic/Vet on March 25, 2010 05:12 PM
Posted by: Gary on March 25, 2010 05:14 PM
Yes, good thing that Gingrich actually brought that Contract to the floor and had each and every item voted on, and most passed.
Now, I wonder when you'll rise up about the failure of Pelosi/Reid/Obama to support PAYGO. Or is that just lip-service on their parts that you fully support?
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on March 25, 2010 05:16 PMIf paying more in tax for not having something (i.e. health insurance) is a mandate, then current tax policy mandates we have children.
Posted by: MikeBoyScout on March 25, 2010 05:32 PMNo where do you have to have children. The government does not force you to have them. Again you do receive a tax break for having them, but that isnt' a mandate, but an incentive.
Do you understand what an incentive is?
Posted by: Dengle on March 25, 2010 05:47 PM(D) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN THE EXCHANGE.-
(i) REQUIREMENT.-Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, after the effective date of this subtitle, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are-
(I) created under this Act (or an amendment
made by this Act); or
(II) offered through an Exchange established
under this Act (or an amendment made by this
Act).
(ii) DEFINITIONS.-In this section:
(I) MEMBER OF CONGRESS.-The term "Member
of Congress" means any member of the House of Representatives or the Senate.
(II) CONGRESSIONAL STAFF.-The term "congressional staff" means all full-time and parttime
employees employed by the official office of a Member of Congress, whether in Washington, DC or outside of Washington, DC.
Oh, that's right, he demands US to offer up our children to a lower quality of care while he and mama obama seek a higher level for theirs. I didn't expect this man to do it anyway, as he is a full fledged coward that lacks any semblance of leadership qualities.
Posted by: Rick D. on March 25, 2010 06:04 PMHow does the government force you to purchase something? in the Health reform law? What is the force mechanism and how is it implemented?
Posted by: MikeBoyScout on March 25, 2010 06:12 PMThe host of This Week [George Stephanopoulos]says he asked the president-elect: "At the end of the day, are you really talking about over the course of your presidency some kind of grand bargain? That you have tax reform, healthcare reform, entitlement reform including Social Security and Medicare, where everybody in the country is going to have to sacrifice something, accept change for the greater good?" "Yes," Obama tells the interviewer. "And when will that get done?" "Well, right now, I'm focused on a pretty heavy lift, which is making sure we get that reinvestment and recovery package in place. But what you described is exactly what we're going to have to do. What we have to do is to take a look at our structural deficit, how are we paying for government? What are we getting for it? And how do we make the system more efficient?" "And eventually sacrifice from everyone?" the host asks. "Everybody's going to have (to) give,'' Obama replies. "Everybody's going to have to have some skin (in) the game.''source
Well, that's what passes for transparency and leadership in D.C these days with the agent of "change". Kool-aid drinking liberals can't see through their zombie-like stupor of adoration for this clown, but Americans are finally starting to see his rhetoric rarely matches his actions.
The lowest common denominator prevails (13%) at the expense of the other 85% of the population who have Health care plans. Social justice from the Anarchist bunch of thugs with turrets !
Posted by: KDS on March 25, 2010 09:45 PMThey are using the IRS to do that work. So just because the IRs is doing it and not Tony Saproano that's OK? It is wrong. Totally wrong.
It isn't a tax. Pudge already debunct that. Why do you think the gov is capable of doing health reform? What have they ever done social Justice that worked?
Why do you believe that I or you have to pay $ to be a citizen? If we don't we go to jail or pay a fine? You don't even thing drug dealers or user should have to pay a fine for something they choose to do. So the gov forces us to do it, so it's ok? becaue some people decided not to do health care? or they didn't work hard to make it so they could?
Mother nature...who you worship....says natural selection makes them dead. Why do you hate the poor and want them dead?
Posted by: Dengling on March 25, 2010 09:57 PMThat you're taking the Moonie Times as a reliable source? No, not at all.
If only we had a leader like a recent president and vice-president, who had eagerly volunteered to fight on the front lines of our war against Communism in their youth, and then encouraged their children to fight in Iraq. Now, there were some manly manly leaders of manly men! (By Republican standards, I mean.)
Posted by: tensor on March 25, 2010 10:00 PMCompare and contrast with Paul Ryan (R) WI, who sleeps in a cot in his own office in D.C. to save himself, and taxpayers a lot of money.
We need to get rid of the politicians, of either stripe, who view themselves as royalty. Starting with Obama and Pelosi. Reid looks like he's already assured his defeat.
Posted by: Jeff B. on March 25, 2010 11:09 PMRobert whines: "I've seen alot of inane articles at the Moonie Times, but this may be the most inane one"...
Hmmm, you can actually read?!?! Who knew?
Note though that Robert is long on whine on short of substance...
Obviously the same can be said of tensor...
MikeBoyScout is still in the contorted position of hiding his head in a most embarrassing orifice and bragging about his complete cluelessness...
Meanwhile in the real world the cowardly meat puppet in conjunction with the asinine actions of the party of the Seditious & Sleazy are feeling the need to pander to this country's parasites which will only result in turning the US in the next Greece ...
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money,
that will herald the end of the republic."
- Benjamin Franklin
Read the law. Incarceration is specifically excluded as a penalty.
Posted by: MikeBoyScout on March 26, 2010 03:37 PMSharkansky calls the 'mandate' unenforceable.
Obviously Sharkansky is a tool of Obama. :-o
If the mandate is unenforcible, where is all this money coming from to pay for this boondoggle? I thought the mandate (that is apparently ineffectual by your standards and definition) was going to pump billions into the health care system to offset costs.
Wow, weren't you snookered.
Posted by: Chris on March 26, 2010 08:56 PMBoondoggle? Ineffectual? Snookered?
No, I have not been snookered.
No, the Affordable Health Care for America Act is not ineffectual, nor is it ARMAGEDDON.
The Affordable Health Care for America Act is certainly not a boondoggle. You may recall that the CBO scored it as a deficit reducer in the short and the long run.
I can understand how you would be confused. Only last week the same people who now bitch & moan about the 'mandate' being unenforcible changed the banner of this site to black to mourn the socialist takeover with the passing of the Affordable Health Care for America Act.
It would appear that the opponents of the president's plan and the Democrat's Affordable Health Care for America Act were snookered.
Posted by: MikeBoyScout on March 26, 2010 09:59 PMNice deflection. The CBO was not allowed to count many of the provisions of this bill that cost real money. It was scored the way they had to score it. If you really think that this will reduce the deficit, I have a bridge for sale...
And you didn't answer how this was going to work without the "revenue" generated by a mandate that has no enforcement provisions. Nice try.
And the mourning is because without a vehicle to pay for this boondoggle, one sixth of our economy just went up in smoke. Wait until the other taxes come up to make up for this. The remaining 5/6ths will follow.
Posted by: Chris on March 27, 2010 07:54 AMMaybe we need to spend our money SMARTER..and look to LOWER costs in the long run, which is what this bill will encourage. Shift the power away from the insurance companies bureaucrats, who are nothing more than leeches on the system.
Posted by: Proteus on March 27, 2010 10:57 AMThe IRS determining whether we have sufficient insurance is certainly enforcement. They can put liens on properties and monies, so enforcement of the mandate is easy.
Posted by: FurryGuyJeans on March 29, 2010 10:31 AM