NY Congressman Offers 'Do Unto Others' Bills To Give Colleagues TrumpCare Health Plans

HUDSON VALLEY, NY – Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) introduced a package of legislation that would force some members of Congress to forgo their health plans on DC’s Health Insurance Marketplace and buy the plans with less coverage or higher costs that their constituents would be offered under TrumpCare. The bills target representatives whose states adopt waivers for pre-existing conditions, age, or essential health benefits.

Maloney said his legislation was in response to the House GOP's America Health Care Act, which would let states waive essential health benefits and pre-existing conditions coverage, plus allow higher premiums for older people, which he called an "age-tax." With the Republican ObamaCare replacement plans, older Americans would pay five times more for health insurance than what younger people pay — and the subsidies to help ease the financial burden would be cut.

And Congress would be exempt. Republican congressional leaders have promised to deal with that issue at a later time in separate legislation.

Under ObamaCare, representatives and their staffers must use the Washington, D.C. Health Insurance Marketplace, which offers all those benefits.

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander – Members of Congress who vote for a garbage health care bill shouldn’t get to keep their special access to Obamacare while they stick their constituents with more expensive plans that cover less,” said Maloney in a press release. “Don’t think your state should cover Essential Health Benefits like hospital stays or prescription drugs? Then your family shouldn’t get that coverage either. If you think high risk pools are so great, you can join one. Think older folks should be charged more for their care? You can pay those rates too.”

Maloney’s "Do Unto Others" package includes three pieces of legislation.

• No Carve Out for Congress Act, would restrict members who represent a state with an essential health benefits (EHB) waiver to the lowest actuarial value health insurance coverage available under the waiver in their state. Members would only be eligible to enroll in health insurance on their state individual market and would receive no federal government contribution with respect to their health benefits plan.
• Goose for the Gander Act, would restrict members who represent a state with a premium age band waiver to the highest age band premium for health insurance coverage available under the waiver in their state. Members would only be eligible to enroll in health insurance on their state individual market and would receive no federal government contribution with respect to their health benefits plan.
• High Risk Pool, No Reward Act, would restrict members who represent a state with a waiver of the continuous coverage penalty if the state allows the use of health status underwriting (for pre-existing conditions) – these members are only allowed to enroll in the individual market in their state and to the extent possible through a high-risk program in the same manner as their constituents who are eligible to enroll in such coverage. Members would only be eligible to enroll in health insurance on their state individual market, and would receive no federal government contribution with respect to their health benefits plan.

SEE: GOP Health Care Plan: Elderly Take Brutal Hit — And 40 Is Now Elderly

Maloney represents a district in the mid-Hudson Valley.