Why isn’t Congress on Obamacare?

By Tom Quiner

There is a meme showing up on Facebook that says:

“Let’s try this again: All Americans should have the same health insurance and care as the members of the House and Senate.”

There is a variation on the theme I’ve also seen that goes like this:

“Give us the exact same health coverage that Congress gets, or give Congress the same healthcare that they gave us.”

What is interesting is that this meme is showing up on the Facebook pages of liberal voters, people who hate Trump and love Obama. One response on Facebook was this:

“It’s time for all of us to demand that the Senate and the House put themselves on the same health care insurance that all Americans will have. Who are they kidding?”

I responded …

“Obama took them off of it. Trump should put them back on it so they truly feel our pain.”

… which prompted a pushback from someone who said,

“Tom, this is false. An early version exempted congress but the final version did not. Thanks to an ammendment offered by Grassley, all of Congress must buy through the marketplace.”

It hit me that all of the Left-leaning supporters of putting Congress on Obamacare evidently think somehow Trump and Republicans are responsible for Congress receiving taxpayer-subsidized health insurance.

They’re not.

Let’s try this again (sarcasm intended): Yes, in 2009 Iowa Senator, Charles Grassley, DID offer an amendment to put Congress on Obamacare, which the Senate Finance Committee adopted unanimously.

This took away a 75% subsidy they were receiving. However, in 2013 when the law was fully implemented and Congress began to feel the pain of Obamacare, President Obama interceded via the Office of Personnel Management to allow Congress and their staffers to switch plans and exit Obamacare.

In vintage liberal fashion, the elite were able to avoid the policies they had imposed on the little guys (us).

So in response to the pushback I received on Facebook, what I said is not false. For more details, the Wall Street Journal explained it nicely this morning.

Why isn’t Congress on Obamacare? Because a hypocritical, liberal president let them off the hook.