The Republican Senator from Florida doesn't like Obamacare. He's made that clear. But that doesn't mean he'll leave money on the table. Especially when it's a cool 10 grand.
“It’s an [employer] contribution,” Rubio said. “It’s available to every employee of the federal government.”
See, back in 2010 Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley proposed an amendment to make Congress and their staffers sign up in the exchanges. They thought it would never pass. It did. Fast forward a few years and they realized that it could mean they would lose their employer contribution. They got a pass from the Obama administration so they could collect the employer contribution, but some groups (Read: Tea Party) claimed it was another reach of executive power. So some Republicans have refused to take the money, preferring to make a stand and insulate themselves from attacks during the upcoming primaries. Rubio is not one of them.
Now, you may be worried that the members of Congress might not be getting the same amount they could under the exchanges. And you'd be right. The employer contributions are not equal to the subsidies available to those in the individual exchanges.
The employer contribution is much more than the available subsidy. Much more.
Those earning less than four times the poverty level — $94,200 for a family of four, for instance — get subsidies for buying health insurance on the individual market. The less people earn, the more in subsidies they get.
So if someone earned the equivalent of a congressman’s salary of $174,000, did not have employer insurance and bought individual-market insurance, he would need a family of 12 to qualify for a subsidy. Rubio has six family members.
Rubio said he would vote to do away with the subsidy if it applied to everyone equally. Until then, he said, he is keeping the money. Presumably so he can finally get treatment for his chronic case of dry mouth.