Crush Liberalism

Congressional rocket scientists stripped themselves of their health insurance when they passed ObamaCare

Remember when San Fran Nan said they needed to pass the bill in order to find out what was in it?

Hey, Peloco: how does Obama’s @$$ taste now?  Details:

The law apparently bars members of Congress from the federal employees health program, on the assumption that lawmakers should join many of their constituents in getting coverage through new state-based markets known as insurance exchanges.

But the research service found that this provision was written in an imprecise, confusing way, so it is not clear when it takes effect.

The new exchanges do not have to be in operation until 2014. But because of a possible “drafting error,” the report says, Congress did not specify an effective date for the section excluding lawmakers from the existing program.

Under well-established canons of statutory interpretation, the report said, “a law takes effect on the date of its enactment” unless Congress clearly specifies otherwise. And Congress did not specify any other effective date for this part of the health care law. The law was enacted when President Obama signed it three weeks ago.

In other words, Congress loses their health coverage until the law requires them to join the health insurance exchanges…that don’t exist until 2014.  Hey, whatever happened to “If you like your plan, you get to keep your plan?”    Congress apparently applied as much due diligence vetting this bill as Dan Rather applied to that memo in 2004.

A rhetorical question asked by the author:

The confusion raises the inevitable question: 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?

You know what’s the most stunning aspect of this story?  Not that the functional morons in Congress didn’t read the bill and thus missed nuggets like this.  No, it’s the fact that the NYT ran this story!  What, was Bill Keller on vacation this week or something?

They missed the loophole that allowed kids with pre-existing conditions to be excluded.  Then they forgot to include the provision to allow loser adult children to continue mooching off Mom and Dad’s insurance.    It seems like each day, the feds are discovering their oversights and incompetence in the bill.  But hey, what could possibly go wrong(er)?

April 13, 2010 - Posted by crushliberalism | big government, health care, Pelosi, socialism