BartBlog

Author’s note: I am surprised “Bart” has not picked this up yet, so thought I’d post it here. I have not done political writing for the past few months, partly because I have been so disgusted with the shift to the right in this country recently, thanks to the Citizens United ruling that enables corporate fascists like the Koch brothers to throw unlimited amounts of money into elections and influence the useful idiot voters. Anyway, this article is a good taste of what is to come in the next two years.

Excerpt:
Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) began circulating a letter among his Democratic colleagues calling on members of Congress who want to repeal the new health care law to forego their own government health care plans.

According to Glenn Thrush writing for POLITICO, in the letter to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Crowley writes:

If your conference wants to deny millions of Americans affordable health care, your members should walk that walk…You cannot enroll in the very kind of coverage that you want for yourselves, and then turn around and deny it to Americans who don’t happen to be Members of Congress…It is important for the American people to know whether the members of Congress and members-elect who have called for the repeal of health insurance reform are going to stand by their opposition by opting out of the care available to them at the expense of hard-working taxpayers. We look forward to your response in the coming days about exactly how many of the members in the Republican conference will be declining their taxpayer-supported health benefits.

This particular Washington SNAFU was spurred by comments made by Representative-elect Andy Harris (R-MD) at an orientation meeting while discussing the government-subsidized health care benefits that are available to lawmakers.

Harris, who ran on a platform that included a promise to repeal President Obama’s health care reform law and resist “government-run or government-mandated insurance,” essentially asked why it will take 28 days for his government-run health care to go into effect. Based on a statement from an aide who was present at the meeting, POLITICO’s Thrush reported that Harris asked, “what will I do without 28 days of healthcare?” According to the aide, he then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap. In a statement to POLITICO, Harris’ spokeswoman Anna Nix admitted that he also said, “This is the only employer I’ve ever worked for where you don’t get coverage the first day you are employed.”

Harris, a 12-year Maryland state senator who is an anesthesiologist that practices at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and several hospitals on the east coast, apparently is not aware that the vast majority of private health insurance plans offered through private employers do not begin coverage for 30-90 days. Moreover, he is obviously oblivious to the hypocrisy of any politician who opposes government-subsidized health care for those not fortunate enough to be elected to government service, yet accepts it for themselves.

Read more, get links and see a video of even Scarborough mocking Harris here: http://www.examiner.com/independent-in-madison/lawmakers-opposed-to-taxpayer-funded-health-care-urged-to-forgo-theirs