Congress governs self under ‘Obamacare

 

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  The Associated Press – By LAURIE KELLMAN – Associated Press 
  November 1, 2013 5:37pm

  FILE – In this Oct. 28, 2013, file screenshot, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ main landing web page for HealthCare.gov. Members of Congress are governing themselves under President Barack Obama’s signature law, which means they have great leeway in how to apply it to their own staffs. For lawmakers, it is about a section of the law that may _ or may not _ require them to toss some staffers off of their federal health insurance and into the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges. (AP Photo/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, File)

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Think you’re confused by “Obamacare”? It’s roiling Capitol Hill behind the scenes, too.

  Members of Congress are governing themselves under President Barack Obama’s signature law, which means they have great leeway in how to apply it to their own staffs.

  For House members and senators, it’s about a section of the law that may — or may not — require lawmakers to toss some staffers off their federal health insurance and into the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges. The verdict from congressional officers is ultimately that lawmakers, as employers, have discretion over who among their staffs gets ejected, and who stays. And they don’t have to say who, how many or why.

  What they all say is this:

  “I followed the law,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., echoing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and others.

  But the law as written is open to broad interpretation, inspiring a bureaucratic web of memos, regulations and guidance that members of Congress say allows them to proceed on the question of staffers and coverage as they see fit. Lawmakers this week were required to finalize plans for who stays on federal insurance and who’s forced onto an exchange.

  The Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, only requires members of Congress and their “official” staff members to get health insurance through one of the law’s marketplaces, or exchanges. Guidance memos from the Senate’s financial clerk and the House’s chief administrative officer, obtained by The Associated Press, define “official” aides as those who work in the lawmakers’ personal offices. Committee and leadership aides, then, would be exempt and could stay on the federal health insurance program.

  Unless lawmakers decide otherwise.

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