Letter of Support for the No Exemption for Washington from ObamaCare Act, S. 1497

Dear FreedomWorks member, 

As one of our millions of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your Senators and urge them to support the No Exemption for Washington from Obamacare Act, S.1497.  Introduced by Senator David Vitter, this bill would stop Members of Congress, their staff and all executive branch employees from receiving any subsides beyond those that would be received by other citizens of the United States under ObamaCare.   

Under Section 1312 of the Affordable Care Act, Congress and their staff were to be enrolled in health insurance exchange plans, just like every ordinary American, and would lose their existing privileged coverage in the popular and successful Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). But rather than accept the consequences of passing Obamacare, the political class of Washington, D.C., who passed the law that fewer than 40% of all Americans support, have decided to exempt themselves from Obamacare.  And the most offensive fact is that they’ve received this special treatment without even transparent vote for the American people to see. 

The President, acting with questionable legal authority through the federal Office of Personnel Management, has declared that members of Congress and their staff can effectively be exempt from the law. While they must still enroll in Obamacare’s exchanges, the President is allowing Congress to keep their gold-plated insurance subsidies that pay up to 75% of their premiums, thus shielding them from the rising costs resulting from the atrociously mistitled Affordable Care Act.  And this is all courtesy of your tax dollars. 

Due to Obamacare, many private employers have ceased to offer their group or company-self-paid insurance, and so employees have to find their own health insurance on the individual market in the exchanges. No other employer in America gets to help pay for its employees’ coverage on the exchanges. Congress should not get special treatment. 

These closed-door, secretive, Washington-insider tactics are unacceptable and unjust. For a civil society to remain free, those who write the laws must also be subject to them. Thus, I urge you to contact your Senators today and urge them to support S. 1497, the No Exemption for Washington from ObamaCare Act, and to co-sponsor the bill if they have not already done so.

Sincerely, 

Matt Kibbe

President and CEO 

FreedomWorks