Oregon man's petition to strip Congress of their public health care plan goes viral

[babylonsister]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/03/15/1643624/-Oregon-man-s-petition-to-strip-Congress-of-their-public-health-care-plan-goes-viral?detail=facebook


Oregon man's petition to strip Congress of their public health care plan goes viral
By Walter Einenkel
Wednesday Mar 15, 2017 · 10:36 AM EST


Daniel Jimenez lost his father to cancer a few years ago. According to Mr. Jimenez his father had a job but did not have health insurance, and did not go to the doctor until it was too late. With “intellectual” Paul Ryan, the turtle turned weasel Mitch McConnell, and unpopular President Donald Trump working diligently to take away millions of peoples’ health insurance, Jimenez has started a change.org petition.

https://www.change.org/p/remove-health-care-subsidies-for-members-of-congress-and-their-families?recruiter=275115776&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=des-lg-share_petition-no_msg

A lot of Members of Congress promote choice as an American value, which is all the more reason for them to have to continue to choose their own health coverage from the free marketplace. If private health care is good for the American citizen, it should also be good for the people that defend it.

If Congress is willing to drastically cut healthcare subsidies for most people, are they willing to have the same rules apply to them and their families?

As of this diary, Jimenez’s petition has 352,099 signatures. Jimenez says the responses he’s gotten shows that people from both sides of the aisle seem to agree—Congress should stop being such blatant hypocrites.

Over email, Jimenez told us that the response to his petition, which has garnered over 300,000 signatures in a week "has been amazing."

"There are also some really sad and scary comments about people needing health insurance because of pre-existing conditions and are fearing for their lives if they lose their health care plan," he said. "An interesting fact is that people from both side of the political spectrum seem to agree with me about Congress not receiving any special treatment that regular people do not have."

If the petition receives 500,000 signatures, it will be delivered to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Sen. Bernie Sanders and President Donald Trump.

Asked if he thinks a petition of 500,000 signatures might get Congress to give up their subsidies Jimenez says that even if he had 5 million signatures nobody in their right mind would be willing to give up subsidies when the cost of health insurance continues to rise. Exactly, and Congress has no plan for that.

[smirkymonkey]

1. K&R

[WillowTree]

2. This petition is pretty much nonsense.

Members of Congress and their staffs do not get their health insurance for free. Under ACA, their premiums are partially paid by the government, just as is the case with most employer-sponsored health insurance plans, but only if they purchase it through the exchanges, just like mere mortals.

[dchill]

3. "partially paid by the government..."

That's a pretty big deal, IMO.

[WillowTree]

5. Why? My employer pays part of the premiums for my coverage.

As has been the case with most of the employers that I've worked for. Since the point of this is that the members of Congress should have to live with the same set-up as everyone else, that's what's happening.

Maybe he should start a petition demanding that they have to get less than the rest of the employed-with-benefits citizenry.

[dchill]

8. I submit that "part of the premium" would be roughly the same...

whether you make $174,000 per year or $13.00 an hour. IMO, that would tend to make it more affordable for a congressperson than the average convenience store worker. I'm merely making the case for single-payer universal health care. What Congress WILL have to live with is whatever they do. Many will die under the Ryan plan. As is, I believe, his intention.

[DK504]

12. Congress doesn't get their healthcare from the ACA.

They and their staff get a golden policy policies for near no money a month. They have access to a doctor 24/7 and huge gym and best of ALL; we get to pay for it!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!

The word deplorable pops into mind.

[WillowTree]

13. Please cite your source for this information.

[WillowTree]

14. Per factcheck.org

"The Affordable Care Act says that starting in 2014, members of Congress and their staffs can no longer get their health insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, as they have in the past. Instead, these federal employees will have to get insurance through the exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act. Other Americans with work-based insurance aren’t subject to such a requirement. They can continue to get health insurance through their employers. Other federal workers, too, can continue to select health insurance plans through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. But not Congress."

http://www.factcheck.org/2013/08/no-special-subsidy-for-congress/

[babylonsister]

16. Hmmm.

I looked this up recently and found this.


http://obamacarefacts.com/congress-obamacare/

The ObamaCare Exemption for Congress is a myth. It turns out that reports that members of Congress will be exempt from ObamaCare are without merit. Members of Congress have to buy their health insurance on the exchanges along with millions of other Americans.

[Faux pas]

4. Kickin' with gusto!

[AllaN01Bear]

6. better yet , let the public sign on and give them aca coverege

[WillowTree]

9. That's what they do get unless they want to give up the employer contribution.

[a kennedy]

7. and while we're at.....let's discuss about how many D*MN days Congress DOESENT work.....

https://www.thoughtco.com/average-number-of-legislative-days-3368250 On average they only work 18 hours a week!!!!!!

[stpetegreg]

10. If they worked for Walmart or Papa John's...

they wouldn't qualify for healthcare working only 18 hours a week.

[a kennedy]

17. Thank you for this....AND welcome to DU.

how did you find us?? So happy you did.

[coco22]

15. Exactly..

[wcollar]

11. Let's take this one step further

Let's save some real money. I say we pay them minimum wage and ONLY for the hours they actually work.
We have a few reps who would probably make more than their salary, but a lot of the rest would then be eligible for food stamps.

Might actually get them to create a living minimum wage.

[JudyM]

18. That's what I keep saying, and conflict of interest rules need to apply to them as well,

and also apply to the Executive and Supreme branches. They should not get *any* preferential rules!