@Phoenix32890,
Phoenix32890 wrote:
I agree that Congress members are highly paid professionals, as you are. The one big difference is that they do not work for a private corporation. They work for the government, and are paid theough taxes. Part of their jobs are to pass bills that affect citizens through their pocketbooks.
I think that if these folks had a personal stake in overhauling the health plan, they might do things a bit differently. As it is, they have little motivation, other than to see that they win the next election.
Actually, your Congress members get health care similar to others elswewhere in the world - with the tiny difference that other citizens there get health care as well.
Here, in Germany, 40% of our (fedral, that's what I just looked up) lawmakers are in the normal, compulsary health insurance (= 50% paid by the state as employer, 50% taken from their salary, like with any other normal citizen).
The other 60% are in the (kind of) health insurance for civil servants: they pay their bill at first themselves, get about 50% back from the state, and pay the other 50% either themselves or via an additional insurance (which is less than half paid by the state).