Mother Jones
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Members of Congress have spent the past few weeks grousing about their attempts to enroll in new health insurance plans they forced on themselves when they passed the Affordable Care Act. The law requires members of Congress to get their insurance, and employer subsidy, through the DC health exchange rather than through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Network, where they’d been getting it for decades—at a good price.
Not every member is signing up for the exchange. Some, like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), have cushy coverage through a spouse’s employer. Others are eligible for Medicare, the government’s plan for the elderly. And then there’s Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas tea party luminary and an outspoken opponent of the ACA. Rather than participate, Gohmert says he intends to pay a fine the law imposes and remain uninsured when the ACA’s individual mandate kicks in early next year. “I’ve pledged that I’m not taking the subsidy,” he told Politico. “Too many people in my district have lost their insurance because of Obamacare…and because of Obamacare, the remaining insurance is just too expensive. So I’m not going to have insurance, it looks like.”
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