One of the disputes roiling Washington during the government shutdown is whether the federal government should continue to subsidize health insurance for members of Congress and their staff. The Obama administration has published rules saying it will, and some Republicans again attacked that move Friday as unfair.
The impasse involves a provision in the 2010 Affordable Care Act requiring lawmakers and staff to buy insurance through the new health-insurance marketplaces that opened this week.
The provision has caused endless headaches because the marketplaces are designed for those who can't get health insurance elsewhere, whereas congressional staff have long received coverage through the regular federal employee benefits program. The federal government has acted like a typical large employer in paying about 75% of premiums.
Under rules released Monday, the Obama administration will treat lawmakers' offices as small businesses for the purpose of providing health insurance. Members of Congress and their staff will get coverage through the marketplace for small business being run by the District of Columbia government. The rules say the government will continue to cover about three-fourths of the cost of health premiums for lawmakers and staffers.
"We are continuing to ask for that, no special treatments for us," said the House majority leader, Rep. Eric Cantor (R., Va.).
The question of congressional benefits is one of several at the center of the battle over the shutdown. House Republicans have said they won't vote to reopen the government unless President Barack Obama agrees to changes to the health law, while the president has said the law should go into effect as planned and shouldn't be linked to the budget fight.
Sen. David Vitter (R., La.) and some others in Congress argue that it isn't fair for the government to contribute so much of the premium for congressional staff because people of similar income who buy coverage on an exchange don't have access to that kind of help.
A short-term spending measure passed by the Republican-led House during the current government-shutdown standoff would have limited the federal contributions for lawmakers and staff members. The Senate quickly rejected the measure.
Defenders of the rules say that without the federal contribution, congressional staff in effect would have to take a pay cut that could amount to more than $10,000 for those with families.
Concerned about the effect on staff, members of Congress from both parties, including House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), have tried in recent months to find a compromise that would keep existing arrangements, although Mr. Boehner's public position is that the subsidies should be scrapped.
The rules—which essentially try to recreate the status quo— were released by the Office of Personnel Management, the government's human-resources arm. An earlier draft attracted more than 66,000 comments, many from people angry at what they viewed as an attempt by Congress to exempt itself from the law's requirements.
The office had been mulling ways for lawmakers and staff to get their insurance through the individual market in their state of residence, but decided it was better to put everyone in the District of Columbia exchange. The government help with premiums applies to those who purchase any of the available "gold" level insurance plans, which cover 80% of expected health costs.
Lawmakers and staffers are also free to reject the plans and the government insurance contribution, according to the rules, although they can't stay in their current federal health-care plans.
The House's chief administrative officer told members and staff in an email Wednesday that they could begin enrolling Nov. 11 and would have until Dec. 9 to sign up.
—Siobhan Hughes contributed to this article.
Write to Louise Radnofsky at louise.radnofsky@wsj.com and Amy Schatz at Amy.Schatz@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared October 4, 2013, on page A4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Congress's Benefits Cloud Health Fight.
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