A Republican senator who recently pushed for — and got — a GOP conference rule that forces all staff members to use the Obamacare marketplace for job-related health coverage asked D.C. administrators Friday to help affected employees make the switch.
In a letter, Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana asked leaders at the D.C. health exchange and the Office of Personnel Management to reach out to Senate staff members who are still in the Federal Employees Health Benefit program to let them know about their options on the city’s Obamacare portal.
He also wants them to hold a special enrollment period for them to sign up. Technically, the deadline for Capitol Hill staff to sign up for health benefits or coverage on the D.C. small-business exchange lapsed last Monday.
“Republican Senators made a strong, principled statement this week in passing my resolution. Washington should have to live under Obamacare just like everybody else until we repeal it. And we won’t be complicit in Obama’s illegal rule designed to protect Washington insiders,” Mr. Vitter said. “It’s important that OPM do what’s right and allow congressional staff to enter the Obamacare exchange now for next year.”
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 required members of Congress and staff who wanted insurance through their jobs to enter the same exchanges they were imposing on millions of other Americans.
But fearing good staffers would leave, some lawmakers chose to only designate some of their employees as “official.” Those who escaped that designation are still allowed to get coverage under the regular federal employees program, which is considered quite generous.
The Senate Republicans’ vote this week to make their staffers use the Obamacare exchanges has put the spotlight on their House colleagues, who refused to do the same in a vote earlier this year, leaving them in a politically awkward position.
An administration ruling last year said lawmakers and staff may continue to collect a federal subsidy that pays up to 75 percent of their health premiums if they buy insurance on the city’s small-business exchange, although Mr. Vitter and others want to scrap that subsidy.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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