[/caption]Kay Mathews -In January 2011 every single Republican member of the U.S. House of
Representatives voted to repeal the health care law enacted last year, and now some of them are learning how difficult it is to find affordable health insurance in this country.
In a 245 to 189 vote, with only three Democrats voting in support of
repeal, Republicans displayed their unanimous opposition to the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act. Some of these individuals are now struggling with the same difficulties of finding health care insurance and worrying about the potential rise in costs as some of their constituents.
Sixteen of those 242 Republican House members have chosen to decline insurance benefits from the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. According to Politico,
however, some of those Republican legislators are finding the health
insurance market fiscally challenging. “As they venture into the free
market for health insurance,” reports Politico, “these lawmakers — many
of whom swept into office fueled by tea party anger over the health care
law — are facing monthly premiums of $1,200 and fears of double-digit
rate hikes.”
Rep. Scott Rigell, a freshman from Virginia who is the owner of an automobile dealership that employs about 150 people, indicated that “he’s had firsthand experience with the rising costs of insurance for business owners.”
Rigell was quoted as saying,“I’ve never disputed that true reform is needed. Every year we brace ourselves for the renewal — is it going to be 18 percent or 25 percent
or 30 percent [more expensive]? It’s going to well exceed first the overall level of inflation and also going to well exceed any ability on our part to raise our prices by anything approaching that. So it is terribly burdensome.”
Another freshman legislator, Florida Rep.Richard Nugent, was quoted as saying, “I have a niece who has pre-existing conditions, and I worry about her if she was ever to lose
her job.” What Nugent does have is access to a Blue Cross Blue Shield
plan for retired county employees because he is a former Sheriff.
Nugent told Politico that the plan “costs about $1,200 a month for his
family.”
During an interview on NPR, Nugent indicated that the
cost of the plan that covers himself, his wife, and one son is “almost
$1,300” a month.
The Nugents’ two other sons are covered by federal insurance programs because they are members of the military.Their youngest son, Rep. Nugent, explained, “is just awaiting his final orders for active-duty Army. So he's still covered underneath my plan.”
The host explained to NPR listeners that if Nugent accepted the federal plan it would only cost “a few hundred dollars a month” because “it’s a huge pool” of approximately eight million people and “therefore that kind of a plan can negotiate rates down.”
Yet, Nugent will not accept the federal insurance plan because, he argues, it is subsidized
by the government “to the tune of almost 75 percent.” Further, Nugent
suggested, his monthly premium of $1,300 would go down “if we had true
health reform” in the form of tort reform.
The other ways in which Republican legislators have found to cover their health insurance
needs include, according to Politico, insurance through a spouse,
enrollment in an individual health savings account, and purchasing
insurance directly from an insurer. The costs of those options were not divulged.
Sources:
Politico: “House passes health law repeal” by Carrie Budoff Brown. Jan. 19, 2011. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47831.html#ixzz1DfcanKsK
Politico. “Insurance reality hits House GOP” by Marin Cogan. Feb. 9, 2011. http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=07850068-AFC0-ED92-53EA9C2351E5D53A
National Public Radio (NPR). “16 Freshman GOP Decline Federal Health Coverage.” Feb. 9, 2011. http://www.npr.org/2011/02/09/133629806/16-Freshmen-GOP-Decline-Federal-Health-Coverage
