For Congress, top-notch personal health care insurance comes with the job
When Rep. John Yarmuth developed an ankle problem earlier this year, he hobbled on crutches to the Capitol physician, who made X-rays and sent him on to the National Naval Medical Center in nearby Bethesda, Md., for a procedure that provided relief — with no co-payments Yarmuth said the Capitol doctor and treatment from Bethesda obviously are perks not available to people who aren’t members of Congress.
“One thing that sets the federal employee plan apart from most employer-based plans is we have so many choices (of insurance companies) … dozens and dozens of choices,†he said in an interview.
Even so, “I don’t think we have Cadillac coverage at all,†he said.
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One of the controversies in the congressional health-care reform debate has been the kind of coverage lawmakers are provided.
During the summer’s health-care townhall meetings, critics argued that members of Congress get such good plans that they cannot understand the problems of Americans unable to find affordable coverage.
But, in fact, members of Congress get the same coverage options available to all other federal government employees under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, choosing from an array of private companies, such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield or Louisville-based Humana.
Kentucky’s federal lawmakers, Indiana’s two senators and Rep. Baron Hill, D-9th District, Indiana, all get their private coverage through the federal employees’ program.
And they pay the same premiums for their coverage as other federal workers, from coal-mine inspectors to FBI agents to bureaucrats in federal agencies.
The federal government pays 72 percent of the cost of the premiums, which is about the national average for private employers, according to the Department of Labor.
Some studies show that members of Congress paid about 13 percent more for premiums than the national average in 2008, but they paid less for physicians’ services than the national average.
“It’s maybe a Buick instead of a Cadillac,†Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said of the health plan available to Congress. The access to a Capitol doctor and military hospitals make what Congress gets “the federal plan-plus,†he said.Federal employees have the nation’s greatest choice of health plans, with at least 10 fee-for-service plans to choose from, according to the federal Office of Personnel Management.Only about 1 percent of employers nationwide offer three or more choices. And most employers only offer one choice, according to a survey this year by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust.
Yarmuth said he pays $356 per month for health coverage through Anthem for himself and his wife.
“Depending on what we choose, the better the plan, we pay more,†the congressman said.
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