On the first of the month, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser held an event at Freedom Plaza to celebrate the start of Obamacare’s annual open enrollment period. She appeared with Mila Kofman, head of the District’s health insurance exchange, D.C. Health Link. In conjunction with the event, the mayor issued a proclamation declaring the open enrollment period “Get Covered, Stay Covered” months, and noting that “residents should visit [D.C. Health Link’s website] to shop for and compare health insurance.”
But in encouraging others to “get covered,” and promoting the D.C. Health Link site, Bowser omitted one key detail: She does not buy the policies that D.C. Health Link sells. My recent Freedom of Information Act request confirmed that Bowser, like most of her D.C. Council colleagues, received taxpayer-funded insurance subsidies to purchase their coverage through the District government, rather than through D.C. Health Link. Thus, DC spent nearly half a million in taxpayer funds because the mayor and council won’t be bothered to enroll in Obamacare.
Armed with this information, I asked Bowser about her insurance choices at a recent event. She noted that the Affordable Care Act doesn’t ask individuals to give up their employer-based insurance — a true enough statement. Individuals such as Bowser and members of the council can purchase insurance through Obamacare exchanges like D.C. Health Link, but they must forego their employer subsidy to do so.
Forfeiting generous employer subsidies might seem like an unreasonable request to make of the mayor and council. But earlier this year, the council passed, and Bowser signed, legislation requiring all District residents to buy health coverage or pay a tax — including tens of thousands of residents who do not qualify for subsidies. MORE
In a previous life, my then wife occupied a position of some prominence in the Washington, D.C., and surrounding area’s business community (I won’t go into details, sorry). As “corporate spouse” I attended social and professional events and had the opportunity to meet and chat on many occasions with people such as Marion Barry, Walter Fauntroy, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Norton’s then press secretary Donna Brazile. These dark luminaries, plus any number of DC bureaucrats and “minority business” owners/executives showed me what sort of people they were. While glibly chatting you up, smiling all the time, their eyes were cold and expressionless. Their words were all rote memorizations of what we now call “talking points” (except when they were talking sports). The word “sociopath” comes to mind, as do the terms “arrogant” and “entitled” and “superiority complex” and undeserved “self esteem”.
This story about the DC council’s health insurance is utterly unsurprising and totally in keeping with the characters of the people I had contact with.
*spit*
THANK YOU SHITBAMA, you worthless piece of &*^$%##!@#!^$#&%&*$% 😡 😡 😡
When I retired, had what O’Baja called a “Cadillac” policy. It was self funding and was great coverage, coverage promised to me.
Because of the YUGE tax the criminal administration placed on the corporate entity, they took it away, they could no longer self fund.
Luckily my wife was a government employee, I jumped to her policy and retained pretty good coverage, no where near the Cadillac coverage I had.
PONTIAC Poor ol’ nigger thinks it’s a Cadillac
“If you like your policy, you can keep your policy.” – Greatest lie ever told by a sitting president.
Justice Roberts is dead to me.
Bowser, woof. Appropriate name for a DC mayor.
And they do no care what we think.
They actually don’t give a shit.
Why should they?
Marion Barry
Like any other name needs to be presented to a “Grand Jury”.
I know he “somehow” got elected twice.
Maxine Waters has served in Congress since 1991.
And everyone is still surprised?