Not too long ago, many Americans were outraged about the actions of many politicians. After voting against the health care reform laws, these politicians turned around, and accepted the health insurance that came with their own jobs. It seemed very hypocritical for them to do that. Representative -elect Bill Johnson, however, has declined his Congressional health care benefits.
A lot of the politicians who are in the House of Representatives recently voted against the health care laws that would have helped many Americans to be able to find affordable health care. They emphasized that the reasons they voted against these laws was because they didn’t feel that the Federal government should be involved in health insurance. But then, these same politicians accepted the health insurance that they were offered by their employer, who just so happened to be the Federal Government.
To many Americans, these politicians were happily accepting the health insurance benefits that they spent their entire campaign complaining about. It was as though they were saying that it was perfectly fine for them to have government run health benefits, but that at the same time, they didn’t want the average American citizen to receive this kind of help. No wonder people were upset!
Representative -elect Bill Johnson, however, has announced that he will decline the Congressional health insurance that he would be offered when it is time for him to enter the House of Representatives. He is choosing to decline the health care because he believes that members of Congress should not have access to premium health care benefits at a time when so many Americans are lacking any form of health insurance, and are struggling to make ends meet. He is committed to helping his constituents in Eastern and Southern Ohio, and not interested in gaining exclusive benefits for himself. He is also going to turn down the government 401K program, and the matching portion that the taxpayers would be expected to pay for.
This does not mean that Bill Johnson approves of what is often referred to as “Obamacare”. He would like to see it repealed, and prefers that we adopt patient- based and market-driven health care solutions. No matter how you, personally, feel about the health care laws, you have to admire a politician who is backing up his words with actions, especially when those actions are not what the rest of the politicians are doing.
Image by cliff1066 on Flickr