Boehner Chooses Obamacare Over Medicare

When open enrollment for the second year of Obamacare began on Saturday, House Speaker John Boehner, who turned 65 on Monday, was one of the thousands of Obamacare policy holders who chose to stay in the program, reports Politico.

"I’ll continue to purchase my expensive healthcare coverage,” Boehner told reporters during a press conference.

Boehner is now eligible for Medicare.

Last Thursday, the House Republican Conference voted against a proposed rule offered by Florida Rep. Ron DeSantis that would have required all members and staff to be enrolled in Obamacare as the law states.

“The House of Representatives had an opportunity to change course today, but instead they protected their exemption under Obamacare,” said Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, who has proposed a similar rule in the Senate Republican Conference.

The question of whether members of Congress and their staff should be required to purchase Obamacare has been a controversial issue.

A provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) authored by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley requires congressional staff to purchase their health insurance through exchanges, but the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a ruling in 2013 that staff on Capitol Hill could hold on to their employer subsidy, according to CBS News.

The employer subsidy covers up to 75 percent of their premiums if they sign up through the D.C. small-business exchange.

Last year, Vitter attempted to push through an amendment which would require all members of Congress, their staff, the president, vice president, and all political appointees within the administration to purchase their health insurance on the Obamacare exchange, but his effort was blocked by Majority Leader Harry Reid.

“It becomes clearer every day that Obamacare is an unaffordable, unworkable law. But unlike the Washington elite, folks across the country don’t get to carve out exemptions for themselves. Instead, they’re losing the coverage they liked, seeing their premiums skyrocket, and finding it hard to enroll in anything new,” Vitter said in July when he reintroduced his amendment.

In 2013, an informal survey of members of Congress conducted by CNN found that of the 118 members of Congress who responded, a majority opted to obtain their coverage – and receive the employer contribution – on the exchange as members of Congress.

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