ObamaCare: if it’s not good enough for Congress, it’s not good enough for Illinois

by Diane Cohen Under a 2010 amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, authored by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, congressional leaders and their staffers are required to purchase health insurance from an ObamaCare exchange. Turns out Congress is having second thoughts. With the individual mandate set to take effect on...

by Diane Cohen

Under a 2010 amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, authored by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, congressional leaders and their staffers are required to purchase health insurance from an ObamaCare exchange.

Turns out Congress is having second thoughts.

With the individual mandate set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2014, and as the prospect of being forced to buy insurance from an ObamaCare exchange gets nearer, congressional leaders are considering ways to get out from under it. That’s because they fear their staffers will bolt to the private sector to escape the skyrocketing health insurance premiums they will face in the exchange. ObamaCare has come home to roost.

There are so many ironies in this situation that it’s hard to know where to begin. Let’s start with two.

First, Congress is worried about living under a law they created. The rest of us have to live with Congress’ unintended consequences every day – what makes lawmakers think they should be above the law?

Second is the telling fact that Congress is afraid of losing staffers due to the high cost of buying insurance on an ObamaCare exchange. Thanks in no small part to ObamaCare itself, employers in the private sector are planning layoffs or reluctant to hire to begin with. So the good – and bad – news is that Congress’ staffers won’t have anywhere to bolt. Of course, even if they do, they may find themselves at the doorsteps of an ObamaCare exchange anyway as employers reduce coverage to avoid ObamaCare’s harshest penalties.

Amidst the mess that is ObamaCare, why is Illinois, a state already in a fiscal crisis, rolling out the welcome mat for ObamaCare and even promising to pay its bills? Indeed, when ObamaCare’s staunchest supporters are forecasting it will become a train wreck, it is simply incredible that Gov. Pat Quinn agreed to a federal-state partnership ObamaCare insurance exchange in Illinois. It is even crazier that he is asking the General Assembly to fund it starting in 2015.

Legislation to fund the exchange passed the Senate last week. This bill, HB 3227, is now in the House.

If it’s not good enough for Congress, it isn’t good enough for Illinois. It is in the state’s interest to wait and see how the federal government runs the exchange before committing our tax dollars – upward of $100 million a year – to fund it.

ObamaCare is not the “little engine that could.” It is a train wreck Illinois should avoid. To start with, legislators must say no to HB 3227. Call your representatives and let them know where you stand.