Ocasio-Cortez: 'Lawmakers oppose Medicare-for-All while enjoying cheap government Insurance'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Incoming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted Saturday that she was frustrated to learn that her healthcare costs would be chopped my more than half upon entering Congress, accusing her fellow lawmakers of enjoying cheap government health insurance while opposing similar coverage for all Americans.

In a tweet, the New York freshman lawmaker-elect wrote that her healthcare as a waitress was "more than TWICE" as high as what she would pay upon taking office as a congresswoman next month.

"In my on-boarding to Congress, I get to pick my insurance plan. As a waitress, I had to pay more than TWICE what I’d pay as a member of Congress," Ocasio-Cortez wrote Saturday afternoon.

"It’s frustrating that Congressmembers would deny other people affordability that they themselves enjoy. Time for #MedicareForAll," she added.

Link to tweet

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/419298-ocasio-cortez-frustrating-that-lawmakers-oppose-medicare-for-all-while

[dalton99a]

1. She is right.

[samnsara]

2. yep..welcome to the real world of politics

[elleng]

3. She's right, of course.

Few if any have the great coverage of any Fed govt employees, including congresspeople.

Some have recognized this for years.

[melman]

4. She is 100% right

[lilactime]

5. I thought Congressional employees were put on Obamacare for some

incomprehensible reason Republicans came up with in order to stick it to Obama.

[George II]

12. I believe you're correct.

[yellowdogintexas]

17. Members of Congress are required to choose their coverage from the Exchange

It is possible that in DC several options are available on the Exchange. They would still be ACA plans
I have this information on good authority - a sitting Congressman

[Hortensis]

29. Yes, DC is not rural North Dakota. Ocasio's been talking

teamwork since getting a little acquainted with Pelosi and others, and no doubt trying to undo whatever happened between her and the chair of the energy committee she wants on, plus show chairs of other committees she's interested in that she would be an asset.

But this undifferentiated criticism of congress is not honest nor as well aimed as it should be. Democratic congress members wrote the ACA and made it apply to themselves. The problems she criticizes still exist because of Republican opposition. We're 2 years in. Hillary, Nancy and all the rest would have national healthcare in good shape by now, very likely instituting the single payer option they wrote in but Joe Lieberman managed to block.

Btw, I checked her radical Justice Democrats chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti's Twitter feed, and he's still playing it bland over there. He's continuing to hold back overt attacks on Democrats. Justice Democrats site, otoh, continues to push the idea that our congressional Democrats are made up of sell-outs to business. "The Democratic Party needs to fight for something." "Now it’s time for more leaders in the Democratic Party who don’t just represent corporate donors..." Uhuh. Who needs Republicans when we have Democrats?

Btw, back to the nice side, Ocasio's incoming freshman class elected MI's Haley Stevens and TX's Colin Allred as their co-presidents. Both worked in the Obama administration. There's another position which will liaise between freshmen and upper leadership, but don't know who that is.

Link to tweet

[dflprincess]

13. There really is no such thing as "Obamacare" that is just what Republicans call the ACA

to try & make people dislike it.

What they required is that the insurance plan(s) available to Members of Congress had to follow the same rules laid down in the ACA (you know how Congress likes to exempt itself from the laws it passes). That was done in an effort to defeat the bill.

In fact, IMHO, the biggest flaw in the ACA is that it left the private insurers in charge and didn't establish a new program.

[Merlot]

6. It's not how much you pay, it's how much you get

I used to pay into a very cheap major medical plan. Didn't pay much, but never used it ($5K deductible).

Now I actually have real insurance but am afraid to use it (except for the free preventative screenings) because there is always a followup bill or two from the provider above and beyond the co-pay.

So once again, I'm paying for insurance that I can't use.

[lilactime]

7. I'm a retired Fed and this is so true.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

8. Trump wants to bring your old insurance back.

I would hope what you have now is an improvement.

[Takket]

9. keep beating that drum until the people get medicare for all

[Hortensis]

32. The ACA's single payer option IS "Medicare for all,"

or to put it more accurately, Medicare for all would be a single payer system. You'll recall that the ACA was written to offer a single payer option, but Republicans blocked it.

Democrats absolutely still intend to offer a single payer plan. The job isn't over until everyone has the healthcare they need at costs they can afford. If we had won the presidency and senate, and many more house seats, in 2016, it'd be done by now.

And, btw, remember that the ACA also initially offered Medicare for all those who didn't qualify for the exchanges. Even though SCOTUS ruled against that law as written, we can still do that by writing the law differently.

We will also continue to protect VA healthcare, America's only large socialized medicine program and far more cost effective than Medicare is, or whatever "Medicare for all" turned out to be.

Good national healthcare can be provided under a literally infinite number of names. What's important is to make it happen. I'd question the judgement and perhaps motives of anyone insists the only way forward is to destroy the advances already in place to create much the same thing. That's simply not true and creates phony division and opposition when the goal's the same. No one in a doctor's office gives a flying you-know-what about what name is on a plan as long as care is available and costs affordable.

[area51]

10. We need to save lives

with Medicare for All.

"The slow motion collapse of the American Healthcare System"

"America already pays enough to fund two generous universal health-care systems for its citizenry. In a sensible country — that is, one which was capable of passing broadly-popular legislation more than once every 20 years — hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths would have long since been recognized as the public policy emergency they clearly are, and the whole health-care system would be reoriented accordingly."

[demosincebirth]

11. Thats been said for years -she's not saying anything new. The ACA, is the dems attempt to level

the level the field.

[ck4829]

24. Nothing wrong with repeating it though

[demosincebirth]

38. Nothing wrong with that, but we're acting like she's the first one to

remind us of it.

[Blue_true]

33. What can be done with the ACA is raise the income cap for eligibility.

That would help a lot of higher income people that don't have company paid health insurance and may actually lead companies to sponsor sign ups into the ACA for all employees and pay a dividend to the ACA for being able to do that.

[demosincebirth]

39. That would help. Maybe the House will bring that up during the next session

[Blue_true]

41. They should.

Raising the cap also should bring a healthier population into the ACA also. There are a number of other benefits to the ACA and the insured.

[sheshe2]

14. A well known fact.

Many of us have been aware of this for years. It is why many members of congress and senate fought long and hard for ACA. A stepping stone to build on for all Americans, a single payer that will in fact, if people are honest will take years, many years. Yet we can do this. Best way to start is to vote for Democrats to make this happen. The house was the start. We need the Senate and Oval Office as well.

VOTE!

[MontanaMama]

15. Isn't she 29 years old?

She’s paying half of what she was paying as a waitress?? Goddamit. I’m 54...my husband is 57 and our son is 13...we are self employed and we pay $1450 a month for our insurance with deductibles of $3600K per person. That’s a “silver plan”. More than our monthly mortgage payment. I wish I had access to the plan Congress has. I can’t imagine freeing up $1400 a month.

[Blue_true]

35. One thing that private individuals may can do is build insurance coverage networks.

Or push Congress to raise the Cap on ACA eligibility to cover people like you and your husband that appear to earn too much to join the ACA.

On private networks, it would be tough for someone in your position to join one, typically big companies set them up, like JP Morgan, Berkshire Hathaway and another large company did a couple of years ago. If the Chamber of Commerce was something other than a rightwing carryboy, it would be promoting widespread health insurance networks that self employed people can join.

Do to your husband's age and your age, you can join the association of elderly people (forgot it's name). It has a national network where you can likely find lower rates for the coverage you now have.

[MontanaMama]

36. AARP?

They do not have a good network in Montana, unfortunately. Maybe we are not talking about AARP, however. That’s a good suggestion, though! We own a small business that employees several people. We have a small group plan so that our guys are covered. They’re much younger than we are so their premiums are “affordable”. Montana only has two companies that offer plans for small groups like ours and only one of the two companies offers plans that some people might be able to afford. The other company offers plans but prices them astronomically high. Thank you for your insight. I was an insurance biller for a dental practice for 21 years before I joined my husband’s company...it’s not often I can have an in depth conversation about insurance. Much appreciated.

[Blue_true]

40. The group is AARP.

Getting insurance for small businesses is tricky in any state. But businesspeople in larger, more populated states have an edge over their counterparts due to more options being available.

[bobbieinok]

16. Why we need people from all economic backgrounds in Congress. Bring in reality!!

More people who know personally how the majority of Americans live!!

[ck4829]

25. Yep

[Lithos]

18. To be honest

I'm more cynical than she is...

The price Congress critters pay has zero effect into this equation. Yes, nice theatrics on her part, but not the real issue.

It's the cost of being in Congress and the post-Congressional career which affects things more.

L-

[dansolo]

22. Especially since cheap health plans are not the same as single payer

If she argued that average citizens should be entitled to the same plans that are available to Congress, she might have a point. But she is intentionally lying by equating their coverage to "Medicare for All".

[Bettie]

30. No, she's saying that

as a waitress she paid more than she will as a congressperson and it is wrong that a lower paid person has to pay more for something that should be provided to all by all of us.

Universal health care, not universal insurance coverage. There is a big difference.

[keithbvadu2]

19. When you can approve your own pay and benefits, it becomes much easier to understand how much you de

When you can approve your own pay and benefits, it becomes much easier to understand how much you deserve it.

[DeminPennswoods]

20. The ACA is exactly modeled on FEHB

(federal employee health benefits) program. FEHB has many options from which to choose with both national and state plans and postal and non-postal employee plans. It's not particularly cheap with federal civil servants having to pick up around 25% of the premium cost. It would have been much simpler if uninsured individuals were allowed to buy into FEHB rather than setting up an essentially parallel universe via the ACA.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

21. Constitutional amendment time

Elected Representatives and Senators shall receive annual compensation equal to no more than 1.5 times the median annual income of the citizens they are elected to represent. Calculation of this compensation shall take into account non-monetary benefits, such as health care, but exclude costs of security and travel deemed necessary as a result of the elected office.


Don't like your pay, Senator Moscow Mitch? Make life better for the people back home instead of doing kick-backs to rich donors.

[ck4829]

23. K&R

[Access Geek]

26. President Ocasio-Cortez, 2028!

Following Kamala Harris from 2020-2028...

[still_one]

27. Congress Memebers over 65 can be covered by Medicare. The others obtain their insurance through the

ACA exchanges, where Congress and their staff members, the exchange is through the DC Health Link. The DC Health Link offers different ACA insurance plans at the bronze, silver, gold, and platinum levels. Members of Congress receive a subsidy of about 70% of the premiums, and pay the 30% remainder out of payroll deductions.

Members of Congress receive benefits very similar to those of an employee of a large corporation.

[liberalmuse]

28. I love her.

She’s educating so many new (and older) voters on how the process works and is stirring some shit. No wonder she’s a constant target for the GOP and their propaganda channel. She’s exposing them for the corrupt hypocrites they are.

[Blue_true]

31. She has hit on a very good issue.

Democratic Reps need to hammer this point over and over and point right at republicans that are fighting agains affordable health insurance. Just hammer the message over and over, the everyday Joe and Jill out there that are paying massive healthcare costs will take notice and become pissed.

It would be great if Alexandra would give the actual dollar figure of what she paid and what she will pay. Democratic leadership must be with her on such an effort.

[MontanaMama]

37. Yes. If she would/could tell us exactly

what she pays now vs what she was paying it would add much to the conversation. Congress and their staff have access to plans that most of us back in their district do not. Even plans for someone as young as she is vary state to state and even county to county within a state. For example, I would pay $150 less per month for the plan that I am on if I lived 30 miles south of where I do. I could save $500 per month on the plan I provide for my staff if our business was in the next county.

I admit that I am pretty cynical about the insurance industry and I believe that republicans have no interest in making sure their constituents have access to affordable healthcare. I also believe that most of them really have no practical understanding of how the industry works at all...they don’t have a clue. They’re also not interested because the money from those corporations keeps rolling into their coffers.

[brooklynite]

34. The flaw in her argument...

She has a CHOICE of plans, none of them Medicare. the bounce from guaranteed coverage to exclusively provided by the Government is something there is still not consensus on.