The Unaffordable Care Act

Because it's not such a great deal, compared with single payer like Medicare or VA. Which is the way it should have been structured.

Also, America will be shocked to learn that Obamacare is not perfect in every way. It's just much better than what preceded it.

DonDiego respectfully suggests that forkushV is incorrect in offering the reason Congress seeks an exemption.

The accurate reason is that right now Congress and its employees are covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB). FEHB provides excellent medical coverage and the Federal Government pays about two-thirds of the premium cost.
Congresspeople and their employees will likely get inferior coverage at a higher price under Obamacare.

Does anyone in their right mind ever think that forkush will ever say anything that is 100% true? As of yet, I have not seen it.

Physical impossibility. I don't even think he could tell the full truth if it meant the life or death of a friend or loved one. He will divert, rephrase, purposely misinterpret, give partial data, or outright lie.

" Physical impossibility. I don't even think he could tell the full truth if it meant the life or death of a friend or loved one. He will divert,rephrase, purposely misinterpret, give partial data, or outright lie."--------- And ,if I might add, those are his good points.

He also needs to work on his timing of his jokes. He is the only one laughing at them.

"He also needs to work on his timing of his jokes. He is the only one laughing at them."-------- Has he ever told a joke? I must have missed that momentous occasion.

DonDiego is disagreeing with something I never said. I said that Obamacare isn't that great, and I know he agrees with that. I implied it is not single payer, and I stated that Medicare and the VA is single payer. Again, DD will agree.

I'm not sure, but my impression is that Obamacare is the same as FEHB, except that Congress members, staffers, government rocket scientists, etc. pay less for the various tiers of coverage than the McDonald's worker, and the McDonald's worker is eligible for subsidies from the government. Correct?

And the imperfect Obamacare is MUCH better than what came before.

I generally don’t like to discuss person matters on a public board, but here is the truth first hand as experienced by me.

I and my wife had been separated for a couple of years. We just never bothered to get divorced. She was an RN working at a high paying job in a hospital. A couple of years ago she got sick while on the job and was admitted eventually to intensive care at the same hospital she worked in. The put her on short term disability for ten weeks. She eventually returned to work a short time later. She got sick on the job again. As she was about to be discharged from the hospital the second time her supervisor came into see her and she was fired in the hospital bed for missing too many days of work.

So she moved back in with me. She went from a job with a $60k base pay + overtime to nothing plus a bill of $1500 of month if she wanted to keep her insurance through COBRA. She also had to pay about $600 a month out of pocket for co pays and deductibles. The last couple of years I have sold everything I had until now I have nothing left to sell. Finally we are at the point where she has 130,000+ in unpaid medical bills. I went to see a bankruptcy attorney he told me I was responsible for them too. So guess what I am filing chapter 7. Not only that but as an added bonus the attorney said since she is still chronically ill (she is hospitalized a week at a time 4-5 times a year) after the chapter 7 case is over we need to file chapter 13 bankruptcy because her medical bills are still accumulating. He said we would be in a perpetual bankruptcy for as long as she was alive or cured.

Obama care provides no relief. Big deal she can get insurance for say $1k a month. The yearly co-pay and deductibles are $12,500 per year. So that is $24,500 in medical expenses year in and year out for the foreseeable future. Get sick in say December and get sick again in January and you accumulate $49,000 in medical debt in less than 3 months with Obama care.

* So, . . . hoops2 asked: "If obamacare is such a great deal why did congress seek an exemption?"
* forkushV answered: "Because it's not such a great deal, compared with single payer like Medicare or VA. Which is the way it should have been structured."
* DonDiego commented: "The accurate reason is that right now Congress and its employees are covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB)." (AND omitted by forkushV in his most recent post) "FEHB provides excellent medical coverage and the Federal Government pays about two-thirds of the premium cost.
Congresspeople and their employees will likely get inferior coverage at a higher price under Obamacare."
DonDiego's comment is the correct answer to hoops2's question; Obamacare, as written, (1) required purchase of healthcare on the Obamacare exchanges and (2) provided no Federal subsidy. Congress didn't care that it wasn't structured like Medicare or VA; they cared that they'd have to pay for it themselves !

As the New York Times reported: "the [Obamacare] law does not provide any obvious way for the federal government to continue paying its share of the premiums for the comprehensive coverage.
If the government cannot do so, it could mean an additional expense of $5,000 a year for individuals and $11,000 for families under some of the most popular plans.
The 2010 law generally requires lawmakers and aides who work in their personal offices to get coverage through the exchanges. It does not clearly authorize the government to pay premiums for federal employees who obtain insurance through the exchanges. Nor does it authorize the government to reimburse federal employees who buy health insurance on their own."
Ref: The New York Times

The Law explicitly requires Congress and Congressional employees to buy Obamacare insurance. The Law does not require this of other Federal Employees. Republicans specifically added this provision to influence Congress into not passing the Law; but they passed it anyway.

Once it became apparent to Senator Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), . . . who by her own admission had not read the Law before passing it, . . . among others panicked, . . . warning of a "brain drain" on capital Hill as staffers left because of the cost of healthcare.

They needn't have worried.

" . . . the Office of Personnel Management, with Obama's blessing, ruled [on 7 August] that U.S. lawmakers and their staffs will continue to receive a federal contribution toward the health insurance that they must purchase through soon-to-open exchanges created by President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law.
Republican Senator David Vitter vowed to reverse the OPM ruling to ensure that no members of Congress, Capitol Hill staff nor Obama administration appointees get any federal subsidies for health insurance purchased on Obamacare health exchanges.
'These recent maneuverings inside the beltway are precisely why the American people rightly despise Congress,' said Vitter, of Louisiana. 'Perhaps if White House appointees and Congress have to live under these same Obamacare rules, things would be changed quickly for the better.' "
Ref: Reuters

As in other instances the Law no longer really applies under the administration of President Barack Obama.
If the Law provides no means by which to subsidize health insurance purchases by Congresspeople and their staffs, . . . why, . . . the President need only direct the Office of Personnel to "rule" that the subsidies will be provided in spite of the Law.
"It's good to be the King."

Oh, . . . Senator Vitter is correct; DonDiego does despise Congress.