Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Freshman Congressman demands to know where's his health care?

A Maryland doctor named Andy Harris ran for Congress and won on a platform of repealing health care reform.

Here's the kicker: Politico reports that at an orientation for freshmen representatives on Monday, Harris demanded to know why his government-subsidized health care took a month to kick in. Writes Politico, Harris
reacted incredulously when informed that federal law mandated that his government-subsidized health care policy would take effect on Feb. 1 – 28 days after his Jan. 3rd swearing-in.
“He stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care,” said a congressional staffer who saw the exchange....“Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap,” added the aide.
The irony, of course, is that what Harris wanted was a public option, which he had strongly opposed -- at least on the campaign trail. As Talking Points Memo points out,
Harris told voters, "the answer to the ever-rising cost of insurance is not the expansion of government-run or government-mandated insurance but, instead, common-sense market based solutions that ensure decisions are made by patients and their doctors."