Yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner went online and signed up for Obamacare. (Yes, really.)
Maybe it was a publicity stunt that backfired -- all we know is John Boehner is now another Affordable Care Act success story. (According to this report, he's probably getting a pretty good deal.)
This is one to share far and wide -- let folks know how Obamacare is working, even for one of its biggest opponents:
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-- USA Today: Under Obamacare, the growth in health care costs is at a three-year low.
-- Cape Gazette: A Rehoboth man successfully signed up for health insurance, and he's going to save $10,000 a year.
-- Los Angeles Times, on all the myths about Obamacare: "Don't buy the hype. The numbers tell an entirely different story."
So, the next time someone tells you that Obamacare isn't working, send them one of those stories, or just tell them to go ask Speaker Boehner.
Whoops! Obamacare turns out to be great deal personally for Boehner
The ACA is actually a great deal for a 64-year-old smoker with a high-stress job. Any idea who I'm talking about?
John Boehner (Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
Poor John Boehner.
Thanks to a Republican amendment to the Affordable Care Act, most members of Congress will see their government-provided health insurance lapse at the end of the year, leaving many of them no other choice but to enroll in dreaded Obamacare.
As speaker of the House, Boehner is technically exempt from the requirement, but in order to avoid accusations of special treatment (i.e., because of politics) he decided to take the plunge, too. And he wants you to know how difficult it was. He even wrote a blog post about it.
“Earlier this afternoon, I sat down to try and enroll in the DC exchange under the president’s health care law,” he wrote. “Like many Americans, my experience was pretty frustrating. After putting in my personal information, I received an error message. I was able to work past that, but when I went to actually sign up for coverage, I got this ‘internal server error’ screen”: [Here he embedded an image of an internal server error screen.] Despite multiple attempts, I was unable to get past that point and sign up for a health plan. We’ve got a call into the help desk. Guess I’ll just have to keep trying …”
It’s a bummer Boehner got that error message. Tyranny almost. But if he’d reached the point at which he was signing up for coverage, it means he’d already had a chance to shop around and pick a plan. His post is oddly quiet about that part of the experience. Which is curious. As a 64-year-old heavy smoker, it’s a marvel Boehner will be able to purchase individual market coverage at all. I wonder what crazy law guarantees that he can?
At any rate, since he didn’t disclose which plan he’d settled on, or what his options were, I thought I’d try to re-create his experience for you. So on Thursday night I possibly perjured myself, and created an account on D.C.’s health insurance exchange for a nonexistent 64-year-old man seeking individual coverage.
Because he’s shopping on the D.C. exchange, and not in Ohio under Healthcare.gov, I am assuming that his wife, Debbie Boehner, a real estate agent in suburban Cincinnati, has her own coverage, and so he’s not purchasing a spousal plan.
It turns out, Boehner, who as speaker makes $223,500 a year, has a lot of affordable options to choose from.
Thanks to a Republican amendment to the Affordable Care Act, most members of Congress will see their government-provided health insurance lapse at the end of the year, leaving many of them no other choice but to enroll in dreaded Obamacare.
As speaker of the House, Boehner is technically exempt from the requirement, but in order to avoid accusations of special treatment (i.e., because of politics) he decided to take the plunge, too. And he wants you to know how difficult it was. He even wrote a blog post about it.
“Earlier this afternoon, I sat down to try and enroll in the DC exchange under the president’s health care law,” he wrote. “Like many Americans, my experience was pretty frustrating. After putting in my personal information, I received an error message. I was able to work past that, but when I went to actually sign up for coverage, I got this ‘internal server error’ screen”: [Here he embedded an image of an internal server error screen.] Despite multiple attempts, I was unable to get past that point and sign up for a health plan. We’ve got a call into the help desk. Guess I’ll just have to keep trying …”
It’s a bummer Boehner got that error message. Tyranny almost. But if he’d reached the point at which he was signing up for coverage, it means he’d already had a chance to shop around and pick a plan. His post is oddly quiet about that part of the experience. Which is curious. As a 64-year-old heavy smoker, it’s a marvel Boehner will be able to purchase individual market coverage at all. I wonder what crazy law guarantees that he can?
At any rate, since he didn’t disclose which plan he’d settled on, or what his options were, I thought I’d try to re-create his experience for you. So on Thursday night I possibly perjured myself, and created an account on D.C.’s health insurance exchange for a nonexistent 64-year-old man seeking individual coverage.
Because he’s shopping on the D.C. exchange, and not in Ohio under Healthcare.gov, I am assuming that his wife, Debbie Boehner, a real estate agent in suburban Cincinnati, has her own coverage, and so he’s not purchasing a spousal plan.
It turns out, Boehner, who as speaker makes $223,500 a year, has a lot of affordable options to choose from.
Brian Beutler is Salon's political writer. Email him at bbeutler@salon.com and follow him on Twitter at @brianbeutler.http://www.salon.com/2013/11/22/whoops_obamacare_turns_out_to_be_great_deal_for_boehner/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_content=2+-+this+report&utm_campaign=em13_x_ACA_20131122_eh_ttacaactives&source=em13_x_ACA_20131122_eh_ttacaactives
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