Collected on Facebook, April 16, 2012:
It even offers a page and a line — page 114, line 22. But that page has nothing to do with what the caption on the truck says. Congress, the President and their families, are not exempt from the Affordable Care Act. The Grassley Amendment expressly puts them in the plan, though they would have been left with their employer-provided plans without that special inclusion clause.
Here’s the text from H.R. 3200, the Affordable Care Act, on page 114. Where’s the language this guy complains about?
17 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS ON USE OF DATA.—Nothing in this
18 section shall be construed to permit the use of information
19 collected under this section in a manner that would ad
20 versely affect any individual.
21 ‘‘(c) PROTECTION OF DATA.—The Secretary shall en
22 sure (through the promulgation of regulations or otherwise)
23 that all data collected pursuant to subsection (a) are—
24 ‘‘(1) used and disclosed in a manner that meets
25 the HIPAA* privacy and security law (as defined in[continuing to page 115]
1 section 3009(a)(2) of the Public Health Service Act),
2 including any privacy or security standard adopted
3 under section 3004 of such Act; and
4 ‘‘(2) protected from all inappropriate internal
5 use by any entity that collects, stores, or receives the
6 data, including use of such data in determinations of
7 eligibility (or continued eligibility) in health plans,
8 and from other inappropriate uses, as defined by the
9 Secretary.
That GPO version of the bill is searchable in .pdf form — searching for “Congress” I find no reference to any part that exempts Congress. Searching for “exemption,” I find no mention of any exemption from any provision that applies to Congress or the President.
So, what are the anti-ObamaCare fanatics really concerned about? Is there language in the bill that exempts either Congress or the President, from any provision?
Some guy is so obsessed with hatred for President Obama and health care reform that he paints the offending part on his truck. But he gets the law wrong.
Nothing in the Affordable Care Act exempts Congress, nor the President, from its terms.
Dear Reader, what am I missing? Can you explain?
I wonder if the guy is into tattoos.
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* HIPAA is The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA; Pub.L. 104-191, 110 Stat. 1936, enacted August 21, 1996)
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PPS: Here’s the text of H. R. 3590, the number of the bill that finally passed. I can’t find any more light there, either.
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Update: In comments, blueollie refers us to a Forbes blog article that both reveals the truth of the matter — Congress and the President get no special treatment — and the origins of the hoax.
So, here’s the real deal –As things currently stand, Members of Congress and their staff, until 2014, will continue to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). This program, considered among the best in the nation, allows federal employees- including Members of Congress and their staff- to choose from a wide range of health plans and select the one that best suits their needs. Note that the current plan is neither ‘government’ insurance, ‘free’ insurance nor any other sort of sweet deal that the public has been led to believe is the case. The federal employee’s program involves private insurance policies with premiums, deductibles, co-pays, etc.
Here’s the surprise – come 2014, when the lion’s share of the ACA provisions come on line, Members of Congress and their staff will be required to buy their health insurance on an exchange. In fact, their choices will be even more limited than our own. While it is expected that some 24 million people will elect to purchase their health care policy on a state run exchange, we are not required by law to do so. Members of Congress and their staff, however, must buy their insurance in this way.
There you have it. That guy, whoever he is, had his truck painted erroneously. We hope he doesn’t have a close relationship with the tattoo parlor.
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So many hoaxes relating to Barack Obama; do you think there’s a shop somewhere with a dozen people sitting around dreaming up these hoaxes? What else explains the sheer number of Obama-related hoaxes?
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Welcome to readers of The LOLBRARY. What do you think? (Tip of the old scrub brush to CapnUnderpants, who must be a great guy.)
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Dear Readers, in 2013 – how about leaving a note in comments to tell me from where you’re coming? Who referred you to this set of facts?
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 