One of the arguments people had against the original proposal of a health care mandate was the portion of the bill that exempted Congress and many higher government members from the mandate that everyone else would be forced to adhere to.
It has happened time and time again in our history from social security (which Congress didn't have to pay into until 1984) to 401k plans in which Congress got special perks (namely higher payouts.) With the strong grassroots push and a split Congress, one of the concessions made by the pro-mandate officials was to add a section that extended the mandate to Congress. That helped quell some of the anger against exempting Congress, but unfortunately, as politicians often do, we now see that the wording of the bill may still lead to some exemptions for high government officials- including President Obama, who touted the bill so much.
Thankfully Senator Chuck Grassley (who voted against the bill) has renewed an earlier failed attempt by himself at getting this changed in order to set things right.
Personally, I think the exemptions show how Congress truly feels about the bill. It is not good enough for them, yet it is good enough for the people. There are certainly some ulterior interests there and I would be very interested in hearing what some pro-mandate supporters think about this.
It has happened time and time again in our history from social security (which Congress didn't have to pay into until 1984) to 401k plans in which Congress got special perks (namely higher payouts.) With the strong grassroots push and a split Congress, one of the concessions made by the pro-mandate officials was to add a section that extended the mandate to Congress. That helped quell some of the anger against exempting Congress, but unfortunately, as politicians often do, we now see that the wording of the bill may still lead to some exemptions for high government officials- including President Obama, who touted the bill so much.
Thankfully Senator Chuck Grassley (who voted against the bill) has renewed an earlier failed attempt by himself at getting this changed in order to set things right.
Personally, I think the exemptions show how Congress truly feels about the bill. It is not good enough for them, yet it is good enough for the people. There are certainly some ulterior interests there and I would be very interested in hearing what some pro-mandate supporters think about this.
