In a letter to President Trump last week, Rep. Ron DeSantis called for an immediate end to a 2013 rule that provides special healthcare subsidies for members of Congress.
By ending this special treatment “with the stroke of a pen,” the Floridia representative told Newsmax, “the president can also speed up the repeal of Obamacare. Fewer members will vote to keep it if they have to suffer under it like everyone else.”
“When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010,” DeSantis told me, “Sen. [Charles] Grassley added Section 1312, which states explicitly that the only health plans available for members of Congress are those created by Obamacare or through an exchange created by Obamacare.”
As a result, the Florida lawmaker noted, “Members of the House and Senate were required to live under the law they had passed, did not have access to health insurance subsidies, and made them ineligible for the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program.”
But all that ended in 2013, DeSantis added, “when Congress looked to the Obama administration for a bailout and got it from [the Office of Personnel Management].”
He cited the rule from OPM entitled “Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Members of Congress and Congressional Staff” which, in DeSantis’ words, “contravened federal law and gave members of Congress and their staffs subsidies on grounds that were untruthful.”
The OPM rule, DeSantis noted, “Made it possible for members of Congress to receive their healthcare plans through the D.C. Small Business Exchange, which is, by law, limited to businesses with fewer than 50 employees. With 435 U.S. representatives and 100 U.S. senators, that is far above and well beyond the limit set by the Small Exchange.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.