Does President Barack Obama need to sign up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act?
During Monday’s White House press briefing, CNN’s Brianna Keilar asked Press Secretary Jay Carney when the president was planning on signing up for insurance. It wasn’t the first time Carney’s received the question, and he did not have a particularly solid answer prepared. While he had no “updates” on Obama’s plans, he assured the press that the president will be signing up and has until March 31st to do so, just like everyone else.
This of course led the GOP and various conservative sites to rush the clip out onto YouTube with headlines like “White House Still Won’t Say When Obama Will Sign Up For ObamaCare.” As The National Review’s Andrew Johnson pointed out, Carney “declined to offer further information on the president’s plans to enroll, including whether the press will be allowed to see him go through the process.”
Watch the exchange below, via The White House:
But
In a 2009 article titled “President Obama’s VIP healthcare,” the Los Angeles Times’ Mike Dorning laid out just how top notch the Obama family’s care is. They have four doctors and several more nurses on staff in the White House who travel with the president’s motorcade. Air Force One has an on-board operating room. And if Obama or any members of the First Family need to be treated in a hospital they are given priority treatment in military facilities. Just like protecting the president, as the Secret Service does every day as part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, keeping the president and his family alive and well is considered part of the federal budget.
On top of all this, Obama and his family already have health insurance because he is a federal employee. For any in-patient hospital visits or procedures, Obama would pay the appropriate deductibles and premiums associated with his plan out of pocket. White House spokesman Reid Cherlin told the
When Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was asked the same question about her own plans to sign up for Obamacare during hearings in October, she suggested it was “illegal” for her enter the exchanges because she already has employer-based health insurance (in addition to being eligible for Medicare). While that was an exaggeration that did not have much basis in truth, Sebelius’ underlying point was salient. There was no reason for her to sign up for insurance in the exchanges because she already has it.
If you’re not inclined to believe Sebelius, just take one look at the frequently asked question, “What if I have job-based insurance?” on HealthCare.gov. The answer? “If you have coverage from a job (or a family member’s job), you’re considered covered and won’t have to pay the fee that uninsured people must pay.”
There are millions of Americans out there who are either fully-employed, over 65 or simply already have health insurance and therefore do not need to worry about the upcoming Affordable Care Act deadline. For them to see the White House fretting about exactly when President Obama is going to sign up for insurance he doesn’t even need only serves to take focus away from
While the abstract idea of President Obama signing up for insurance under his own legislation may seem like a good idea, the next time Carney is asked when the president is planning on signing up, he should answer: He’s not, because Obamacare is for people who don’t already have access to the best health care in the world.
[photo via Flickr]
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