Congress and all Federal Employees benefit from socialized health-care subsidies. Insurance companies pull in a bonanza from our subsidies. Yet Congress is scared to cut most Americans in on tax-subsidized medicine.
We must out these hypocrites.
The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, enacted during the Eisenhower administration provides health, dental, vision and life insurance benefits to civilian government employees. In the instance of health, the program offers policies from virtually every insurer that wishes to participate at a rate funded from 72% to 75% by taxpayer money.
Visit the FEHBP website for complete information on these programs:
fehbp website
FEHBP page with downloadable rate sheet
Check out the section on eligibility. Not only are current Federal employees, including members of Congress covered, so are their spouses and children, coverage continues at the same rate after the leave their jobs if they've been employed at least five years:
Federal retirees and their surviving spouses retain their eligibility for FEHB health coverage at the same cost as current employees.
Children receive coverage through their twenty-first year.
The list of plans numbers at least 250. Non postal/military Federal employees number about 1.9 million. That's 7,600 employees average per insurer. Quite a bonanza. Can I believe that these companies are lobbying for smaller government? Can I believe that members of Congress, including Republicans, that these guys lobby really want fewer government employees and less income for their supporters? Of course the small government argument is really aimed at less money for the poor.
Lets get to the big fish now.
Grassley, Bohner, their Republican cohorts and a raft of Blue Dog Democrats who decry socialized medicine and the public single payer option all may receive taxpayer subsidized health insurance. Also eligible are retired hypocrites like Newt Gingrich who claim that
"communal standards, historically have never worked"
. Well we taxpayers are funding health care for 1.9 million federal employees and their families plus HOW MANY retirees and their spouses? I'd call that some kind of community.
Note: actually the group of FEHBP beneficiaries is a "population" - still they have a right to the benefits. But re-reading the Gingrich quote I wonder what he thinks about the "communal standards" expressed in the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the laws of our land?
Check out the FEHBP to see what pains the administrators take to make sure their "customers" know everything they need to take advantage of their taxpayer subsidy.
For example under "selection of plans"
Only you can decide which plan is best suited for your individual needs. Your employing office will not make comparisons between benefits offered by various plans and will not show favoritism toward a plan. They should not in any other way try to influence your final selection of a plan. However, your employing office will answer your questions about the FEHB Program.
Don't get me wrong, the FEHBP program operates like a publicly-subsidized cooperative. I favor a single payer tax-supported universal system. I just can't stand that these bozos take our money to fund their care and won't argue for tax-subsidized insurance for all Americans
Members of Congress seem to be losing interest in the public option sitting on their 75% subsidies while most Americans pay high prices through individual or group plans and 47 million of us are without insurance. And about 10% of us are unemployed.
It's time to make some big noise about this - like abolishing the whole program until all Americans get the same deal. Tell your friends. Tell the Tea Partiers. Ask your representatives why they can give themselves a deal at our expense and not cut us in.
And ask why this all can't be transformed into a single payer tax-supported universal system.
The insurers are laughing all the way to the bank.