The Obama administration on Wednesday issued a proposed rule allowing the government to continue to pay for a significant portion of health insurance for lawmakers and Hill staffers.
The regulation begins to finalize a policy solution released last week in response to a growing controversy over how Hill staffers would get their health insurance in 2014. The health law essentially requires them to get insurance on the exchanges but does not provide a clear pathway for the government to continue to pay for a part of their premiums. The Obama administration and congressional leaders want to preserve the payments to ensure staffers don’t leave the Hill in droves in response to the new costs.
In a fact sheet released with the regulation, the Office of Personnel Management said it will contribute the same amount as it did under Federal Employees Health Benefits program — up to 75 percent of the total cost of the health plan premium. OPM said that contribution would not be counted as additional taxable income for the employee.
The rule leaves several unanswered questions, including which exchange a staffer or lawmaker would enter — his or her home state, the lawmaker’s home state or a local Washington, D.C., exchange. And it is unclear how exactly the government’s contribution would go to the coverage plan.
The law only requires personal office staff — not committee or leadership staff — to enter the exchanges. The regulation says OPM is considering allowing lawmakers — as the employing office — to decide whether a staffer would enter the exchange. What would happen for staffers who work part-time for a member and part-time for a committee or leadership office would be decided on a case-by-case basis.
“OPM has determined that members’ offices are best equipped to make the determination as to whether an individual is employed by the ‘official office’ of that member,” the regulation states.
The requirement to leave the federal health plan will apply to members of the House and Senate, delegates and the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico.
The administration said that staffers and lawmakers would no longer be eligible for FEHB when they retire but they would quality for coverage on the exchange, plus a government contribution. Staffers were worried that their promise of coverage after 20 years of service would be cut by the provision of the health law.
0 comments:
Post a Comment