WASHINGTON — President Obama yesterday bowed to criticism that his new health-care laws exempt him from buying coverage at the government-run “exchanges” and announced the first family will get its insurance just like everyday folks.
The White House revealed Obama’s pledge to shop at the “exchanges” in response to an amendment by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) that would have stripped the president and other executive-branch officials of the exemption.
“We think the amendment is unnecessary; the president will participate in the exchange. But let’s be clear: the amendments being offered by Senate Republicans, including this one, are just a ploy to delay the bill,” said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin. The exchanges don’t open until 2014, so Obama’s participation as president will depend on his winning re-election in 2012.
Obama and other federal employees receive excellent health-care benefits at reasonable cost provided under a massive federal insurance program. Grassley said using the insurance marketplace forced on other Americans shouldn’t be “voluntary” for the president or other leaders.
“It’s a matter of not having a double standard,” Grassley said.
The health-care reform law already contains a provision requiring members of Congress and congressional staffers — who currently get coverage through a federal-employees plan — to buy insurance through the exchanges. There’s been speculation certain top aides could be exempt but that remains unclear.
The vice president, Cabinet members and regular federal employees will not have to change their plans under the new law.
Meanwhile, Obama behind closed doors signed an executive order that affirmed a continuation of the ban on federal funding of abortion.
And Senate Republicans tried to slow down a companion bill to the new health-care laws by forcing Dems to navigate a minefield of politically charged amendments that threatened to blow up the package — including banning Viagra coverage for sex offenders and exempting wounded military personnel from a tax on medical devices.