Health Care Insurance...
By iriscot
@iriscot (1289)
United States
June 15, 2009 10:05am CST
Question: Does anyone here know how much a member of Congress pays for Health Care Insurance and what benefits the policy covers? I was just wondering if they pay for their plan out of their own pocket or do they get their insurance at no cost to them. If it doesn't cost them anything, why can't all of us have the same privaledge and plan?
3 people like this
6 responses
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
15 Jun 09
Congress has the best health care in the world. It covers everything, and they don't pay anything for it. If we all had the same health care it was estimated that it would cost every American $40,000 a year for the same coverage.
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
16 Jun 09
lisan23, I could be wrong but I believe that they are able to expense their health care cost as part of their monthly expenses. So it would end up not costing them a dime, but I could be wrong.
1 person likes this
@iriscot (1289)
• United States
15 Jun 09
OkAY: I did some checking and here is what I found: They belong to The Government Workers Health Plan. It varies State to State and whether it is a plain plan or a deluxe plan (probably means with or without dental and eye care). I just picked two states at random. Illinois - family plan cost $924.17, Gov pays $693.13, employee or respresentative pays $231.04. Iowa - family plan cost $806.89, Gov pays $605.17, emp or rep pays $201.72. This sounds like a pretty good deal to me for a monthly payment for the employee or representative. A member of Congress probably gets a salary of $150,000 per year or more. Not very many people in the private sector make half that much. Some are just barily getting by on minimun wage so how in the world can they pay $800.00 or so a month for health insurance. THEY CAN'T!!!
I was a city commissnioner for 12 years and each year the health insurance would jump in price. The city was paying over $700.00 and the employee was paying about $160.00 for family per month. We finally decided to go "Self Insured" working through a non-insurance agent and were saving about $150.00 per month per employee by doing so. Plus the cost was contingent on the claims. So this told us that the insurance companies and their agents were doing very well financially. We were paying claims out of city funds and the people we were working with would "bird dog" all claims by doctors and hospitals and negotiate payoffs.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
16 Jun 09
How much they pay varies according to what plan they choose. They have the same exact choices that other federal employees have including postal workers, which I used to be. There are many plans to choose from depending on where they live and the amount they have to pay also depends on the company and the plan they choose. The plan I had cost me about $100 per pay (every two weeks) and that was until 2000, when I dropped my coverage because my husband had gotten a different job with a better plan than mine. Actually, we still have the same insurance plan but he doesn't have to pay for it because he works for the state.
It's been brought up a lot of times through the years about allowing everyone to have the same health care choices as federal employees but some people always scoff at it and say it would be "government run" health care. It would NOT, it would just be much cheaper because it would be such a big pool of people. Everyone knows it's a lot cheaper for a group plan than an individual or family plan that you get on your own whether you pay for it yourself or your employer pays all or part of it. I think something like this would benefit and save everyone in the long run. The insurance companies would make more money even if they did lower their premiums and had to cover people with preexisting conditions because they'd have lots more customers. Health care providers would make more and eventually probably even lower prices because there wouldn't be so many people going to the ER and then not being able to pay their bills, which means those of us who can pay also pays for them one way or another.
Annie
@iriscot (1289)
• United States
16 Jun 09
Thanks for the info Annie. I was a city commissioner in my home town for 12 years. The first six years of that the city was insured through United Health Care and the employees with family paid a co-pay over $250 per month, the city paid $600 or more as the rate increased every year by 12 to 15 percent and the city paid the additional cost. We finally decided to go "self insured" for health care through a small independant company and the city saved a few hundred dollars every month since they paid very little for paper work shuffling and stock holder profits and such. When I retired from the city I was on medicare and I had to purchase a supplement which comes to $320 a month at the present time. I am a cancer patient and medicare and my supplement pay for all expenses. We don't have dental and eye care in our supplement.
I watched a program on PBS concerning health care in Canada. It doesn't cost a person anything for health care and doesn't cost the government near as much as the paper shuffling here costs us. It's true that there is a waiting period for services, but that is also true here. A friend of mine is getting a colonoscopy, he had to wait a week to see his primary care doctor to get it set up and is waiting three more weeks before he can get in and have it done. So there is a waiting period here also.
It seems like the Republicans in Congress just want to buck everything that the Democrats propose just so they can keep the support of the RNC for the next election. Why aren't they more concerned about the wishes of the people?
1 person likes this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
17 Jun 09
You know, I've been trying to figure out for years why it is the Republicans don't want everyone to have the same good health care coverage most of them have. I say that because nobody without good coverage would be against universal health care. Since I'm sure someone will be sure to correct me on that last statement I guess I'd better correct myself; there are some exceptions, for the most part people who are young and have blessed with good health and they really have no idea how their entire life could come crashing down around them with one illness or injury. I hope and pray there isn't a repeat of 1993 with the "Harry and Louise" commercials scaring people int thinking they're going to lose their choice of doctors and the government would be in charge of their health care. Right now the insurance companies are in charge for those who are fortunate enough to have insurance.
Annie
@piasabird (1737)
• United States
15 Jun 09
I imagine that as public servants they get their health care for free. Just one of the many perks of the job. I work for a state and have to pay but I pay little for my health care and my employer pays for the most of it. Every year I have to pay more and more out of my pocket but compared to most it's not that bad.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
17 Jun 09
I used to work for the federal government (the USPS) and my husband works for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. When he started there I dropped the family plan I'd had with the FEHBP because he doesn't have to pay any of the premiums for the same plan and the copays are a bit lower than they were through mine. We have the Geisinger Health Plan, which President Obama mentioned when he made his speech the other day, which is in central Pennsylvania. We also have dental and vision coverage through the state which we didn't have through the federal. Some federal employees have plans with dental and vision coverage but ours did not.
Annie
@lisan23 (442)
• United States
15 Jun 09
Members of Congress have access to the same health benefits that federal employees have access too. As for how much it costs, that depends on a lot of things. First, the price differs if they pick an HMO or FFS (national) plan. Second, it depends on if they're insuring themselves or a family. Third, it depends on which state they live in if they pick an HMO. Members of Congress are federal employees and receive a salary. If they choose to get benefits through the federal government they do pay part of their premium out of their salary. (Like most employers the federal government covers part of the premium, the member of Congress pays the rest.)
While Obama was running for president his original plan for healthcare (I don't know what they're going to do now... but this was the plan) was to extend the healthcare benefits available to members of Congress to all citizens. You may have to pay a premium depending on your income, the same goes with copays.
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