If a congressman robs a bank, he has to face the music — because being a pol doesn’t put you above the law.
Except when pols carve out special exemptions for themselves. And that’s exactly what some folks on Capitol Hill apparently have been trying to do with respect to a key component of ObamaCare: the insurance exchanges that are soon to swallow up millions of Americans.
Here’s what Politico reports: “Aides and lawmakers in both parties fear that staffers . . . could be hit with thousands of dollars in new health-care costs.” Worst off will be entry-level employees making tiny salaries who will now have to fork over about a quarter of their pay to cover health care. So members and their staffs have been meeting to discuss ways around this provision.
Republicans would do well to take their lead from those such as North Carolina’s Richard Burr: “I think if this is going to be a disaster . . . we ought to enjoy it together with our constituents.” Indeed, that was why Burr’s fellow Senate Republican, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, inserted an amendment specifically requiring members and staffers to enroll in Obama’s health exchanges.
These days just about everyone from Harry Reid to the kid who makes his coffee recognizes that ObamaCare is a raw deal. The best hope we have for fixing it is to ensure that all members of Congress and their staffs feel the same pain for the mess they’ve created that’s soon to hit every other citizen.