Health care reform reminiscent of another righteous disaster
“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”
— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, concerning the health care reform measure, March 9, 2010
Journalist Michael Kinsley famously observed that a gaffe is when a politician accidentally tells the truth. By this definition, no greater gaffe may have come out of Washington in recent years than the one quoted above.
The Congressional Research Service reported last week that members of Congress may have unintentionally written themselves and their staff members out of any health insurance coverage whatsoever. The recently passed health care reform bill removes them from coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and requires them to obtain coverage through the wondrous Obamacare health insurance exchanges.
The problem, as the CRS report points out, is this: Indefinite language in the bill, rammed through Congress without careful consideration or due deliberation, may cut off current coverage for members and staffers before the exchanges are available in 2014. Oops.
An unimpeachably fair and balanced news source asks: “If they did not know exactly what they were doing to themselves, did lawmakers who wrote and passed the bill fully grasp the details of how it would influence the lives of other Americans?”
The preceding rhetorical question comes from the pages of the New York Times. Rhetorical, because the Congressional Research Service had already provided ample evidence that members of Congress who voted for the health care reform measure had no idea what they were voting for, unless they want to admit to supporting subsidies for rapists and child molesters to purchase sexual performance-enhancing drugs.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla,, raised this disturbing possibility last month, and during the Byzantine perversion of the legislative process offered an amendment that would have specifically blocked convicted sex offenders from obtaining drugs such as Viagra through taxpayer-supported health care plans. Democrats killed the amendment, with Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., calling it “a crass political stunt.”
It turns out, however, that the crassness was on the part of Obamacare supporters who blindly endorsed an incomprehensively complex piece of legislation while ignoring its sweeping implications. In a subsequent memo to Coburn, the Congressional Research Service confirmed that “a convicted rapist, child molester, or other sex offender who is not incarcerated would not appear to be excluded from enrolling in a qualified health plan through an American Health Benefit Exchange in their state solely because of that conviction.” Oops.
Democrats peddled their $940 billion version of health care reform to the American people with promises that it will achieve universal coverage and improve the quality of care while driving down costs and reducing the deficit. Yet less than a month since it became the law of the land, we've discovered that Congress forgot to clarify language providing for its own coverage in the interim before the health insurance exchanges become functional. But once they do become functional, sex offenders will be able to enroll in them and — lacking restrictions — fill prescriptions for sexual dysfunction.
Does anyone still believe those promises? Did they ever?
For members of Congress who voted for Obamacare, side effects may include loss of vision, dizziness, chest pain and nausea. In the event of political rejection lasting more than four hours, seek immediate medical help — while you still have insurance.
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