The Unaffordable Care Act

OMG ! Congress doesn't have to pass a new law that funds their healthcare ...that money was already allocated. As I already said..Congress had premium health insurance before the AFA...and they have it now under the AFA...and it costs about the same. So unless Don Diego believes insurance companies gave their product away for free to Congress before then I cant begin to understand why he would say their new insurance is somehow unaccounted for in the budget.

Wait, what I am I doing? Why am I explaing this? FactCheck.org explains it very well and completely debunks the claims of Obama's illegal subsidy to Congress

"Just like other employers, the federal government pays a portion of premiums of the health plans it offers to its workers. There was concern on Capitol Hill this year, however, that the employer contributions wouldn’t be made to the health exchange plans when members of Congress and their staffs made the switch in January 2014 to their new insurance.

But the Office of Personnel Management, which administers the FEHB Program, issued a proposed rule on Aug. 7 saying that the federal government would be able to continue to make the premium contributions. OPM said the contribution wouldn’t be greater than what is offered under the FEHB Program, and lawmakers and their staffs wouldn’t be eligible for the tax credits that are available to other Americans buying coverage through the exchanges.

In other words, OPM ruled that there would be a continuation of the status quo in terms of the employer premium contribution. But Huckabee and Pittenger offered listeners a distorted view, telling them this was special treatment for Congress and an exemption from the Affordable Care Act."

Thankfully the Annenberg Public Policy Center is not the final word on, . . . well, anything, necessarily. And there is always a question of bias in such "civic-minded" organizations. Nonetheless, if one reads pjstroh's link, Politifact, one will learn Politifact's opinion as well as that of Representative Robert Pittenger [R-NC].

pjstroh swallows the Annenberg opinion; DonDiego agrees with Representative Pittenger.

From representative Pittenger's Washington Post Interview referenced by Politifact:
"Under our current plan [FEHB], we've been under the law. Next year the subsidy is outside the law."
"Congress shouldn't be exempted from the full impact of Obamacare."
"I think what the president is doing is not in accordance with the law [in allowing an employer contribution by Congress]. The president is ruling by decree."

Its a free country. Don Diego can get his informaton from any source he wishes.

Given the choice between:
A) FactCheck.org (award winning, non-profit, non-politically funded organization)
B) A Tea Party Republican Congressman on the Mike Huckabee show
DD chooses to go with option "B" as the less biased source.

And I think we are all done here.

Given the choice between:

A) FactCheck.org, "A Project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center" and funded by the Annenberg Foundation which also funded the Chicago Annenberg Challenge a "charity" with which Bill Ayers - founder of the communist revolutionary "Weather Underground" which conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings - worked. And the Board of which was chaired by Barack Obama. Oh, and the Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center is Doctor Kathleen Hall Jamieson whose bibliography includes: Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment (Oxford, 2008), not a fond commendation of Mr. Limbaugh.

B) Representative Robert Pittenger (R-NC) who is as familiar with the Obamacare legislation as anyone and who on principle will not accept the subsidy which President Obama has ordered be granted him.

pjstroh chooses to go with option "A" as the less biased source.

As DonDiego suggested, pjstroh and he disagree.

Oh dear, another Fox News/talk radio claim bites the dust. It turns out that John Boehner secretly appealed to Obama to ALLOW the transference of Congressional staff subsidies into ObamaCare. You know, that thing that the dishonest and the ignorant referred to as exemptions.

Don't worry guys, you'll always have "teleprompters!"

Tax...Tax...tax...

national sales tax to pay for healthcare, Social Security (remember it is going broke) and Gummie Bears for everyone.

https://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_24248486/obamacares-winners-and-losers-bay-area

Cindy Vinson and Tom Waschura are big believers in the Affordable Care Act. They vote independent and are proud to say they helped elect and re-elect President Barack Obama.

Vinson, of San Jose, will pay $1,800 more a year for an individual policy, while Waschura, of Portola Valley, will cough up almost $10,000 more for insurance for his family of four.

But people with no pre-existing conditions like Vinson, a 60-year-old retired teacher, and Waschura, a 52-year-old self-employed engineer, are making up the difference.

"I was laughing at Boehner -- until the mail came today," Waschura said, referring to House Speaker John Boehner, who is leading the Republican charge to defund Obamacare.

"I really don't like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so pissed about this. When you take $10,000 out of my family's pocket each year, that's otherwise disposable income or retirement savings that will not be going into our local economy."

"Of course, I want people to have health care," Vinson said. "I just didn't realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally."

These comments are ROTF funny. Just who did they think was going to pay for it?

So, Speaker Boehner, and Senate Majority Leader Reid, and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, et al worked behind the scenes to obtain subsidies for their health care expenditures.

Umm, . . . does forkush think such news would surprise poor old DonDiego? Big Government invites Big Corruption.

The most important sentence in the Politico reference is: "OPM initially ruled that lawmakers and staffers couldn’t receive the subsidies once they went into the exchanges." This ruling was correct. It is in accordance with the Affordable care Act.
Eventually, at the behest of President Obama and, presumedly, all of the above and others, . . . OPM said "Nevermind, . . . it's OK after all."

Pretty much as DonDiego described it, . . . no law, just expediency to reward/pacify lawmakers. The descent of the Republic accelerates.