RED ALERT: Some Congressional Staffers Could be Exempt from Obamacare

Loophole Could Free Staff from New Law’s Requirements

“The health care reform bill signed into law by President Barack Obama Tuesday requires members of Congress and their office staffs to buy insurance through the state-run exchanges it creates – but it may exempt staffers who work for congressional committees or for party leaders in the House and Senate.

“Staffers and members on both sides of the aisle call it an ‘inequity’ and an ‘outrage’ – a loophole that exempts the staffers most involved in writing and passing the bill from one of its key requirements.

“The bill requires ‘congressional staff’ to buy insurance from the exchanges – with a stipend from the Office of Personnel Management But page 158 of the bill defines ‘congressional staff’ narrowly, as ‘employees employed by the official office of a member of Congress, whether in the district office or in Washington.’

“The Congressional Research Service believes a court could rule that the legislation ‘would exclude professional committee staff, joint committee staff, some shared staff, as well as potentially those staff employed by leadership offices.’

“If that’s so, staffers who work for Nancy Pelosi in her capacity as representative from California would go into the exchange program, while staffers who work for her in her capacity as speaker would stay on the government’s plan. Other Capitol employees, like those who work for the clerk of the House or the House historian, would be similarly exempted.”

(Erika Lovley and Patrick O’Connor, “Health Bill May Exempt Top Hill Staff,” Politico, 3/23/10)

By Code Red