I’ve been trying to follow along with the news stories involving newly elected Representatives and the federal health insurance that is offered to them as a benefit of their job. It has been interesting to find out which Representatives accept this health insurance, and which decline it, as well as their reasons for doing so. In general, it seems like most of them are making their decisions for political reasons, and not economic ones. Representative Andy Harris has recently stated that he will decline his federal health insurance.
The beginning of this saga goes back to a comment from Representative Anthony Weiner, a Democrat from New York. His comment was said shortly after the last election. His opinion was that the people who were elected as a result of a campaign spent making promises to end “Obamacare” should decline the health insurance that came with their new job. I believe the reasoning went something like this: If you hate the idea of government sponsored health care, then it would be hypocritical to accept some for yourself.
Another ethical difficultly appears when you think about the disparity between what some politicians said, and the actions that they took later. First, they insisted that the Affordable Care Act was bad for the general public, because it would be bad to have the federal government involved in health insurance. This, at a time when many other politicians were insisting that the Affordable Care Act was going to be the thing that would allow the general public to finally be able to find affordable health insurance. Then, they turned around and accepted the health insurance that came from their employer, who just so happened to be the federal government.
This week, Republican Representative Andy Harris has stated that he will decline his federal health insurance. Instead, he will continue to be covered under Blue Cross/Blue Shield, a private health insurance plan that he had before he was elected. His reason for doing so is because he took time to compare the two possible health insurance plans that he was able to choose from, and decided that the Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan provided better coverage.
It is worth noting that Representative Andy Harris was the politician who got some attention by the media after complaining about having to wait a month before his federal health insurance would kick in. Later, he has said that his comment was meant to point out how inefficient the federal government is when it comes to delivering health insurance.
Let me tally things up, in case you have lost track. I’m not entirely sure that I have caught each and every news article that talks about which Representatives are accepting, or declining, their health insurance, but I have tried.
So far, among those that have declined their federal health insurance (for whatever reason) are: Representative Andy Harris, Representative Joe Walsh, Representative Bill Johnson, Representative Bobby Schilling, and Representative Mike Kelly. The only Representative that I am aware of who has accepted his federal health insurance is Representative Joe Heck.
Image by Mike Renlund on Flickr