Reply #68: Not grandstanding: the FEHBP is comparable to the exchanges

[OrwellwasRight]

Under the health reform law, people will have either employer-provided insurance OR they will choose from a variety of options under the exchange -- FEHBP is comparable to either system. And, by the way, once the exchanges are up and running, Members of Congress and their staffs will be excluded from FEHBP and have to go to the exchanges. The point of the health care bill is to provide more people with employer-sponsored insurance (thus the tax credits for small businesses that provide insurance and the tax penalties for large businesses that don't), and to have the exchanges as a back-up system for those who still can't get employer-sponsored coverage.

Moreover, the Republican "plan" for healthcare would eliminate the current pre-tax benefit status of employer-provided insurance, increasing the cost to provide it for employers and therefore decreasing its availability to workers.

Thus, calling a Republican out for demanding his employer-sponsored healthcare is perfectly reasonable and not grandstanding. His bullshit comment proved his fear of being uninsured, or being left to the whims of the dysfunctional individual healthcare market, a fate that would be shared by tens of millions of Americans if the Republican call to repeal health reform were to be successful.