Joe Heck, a Republican Representative from Nevada, has decided to sign onto the Congressional health plan offered to him by the Federal government. He is one of the candidates who was elected after campaigning on repealing the health care bill. His decision to accept the health care plan offered to him through his job is a controversial one.
Some Representatives have been in the news lately after announcing that they would be declining the same health insurance that Representative Joe Heck is choosing to accept. Representative Joe Walsh and Representative Bill Johnson are among the Representatives who are not going to accept the health insurance that comes with their jobs.
There has been a push lately for newly elected Representatives to decline the health insurance that comes from the Federal Government if their campaign focused on their interest in repealing or changing the health care reform bill. There was a measure being voted on recently that, if voted in, would require members of Congress to publicly disclose whether or not they will accept government health care. Representative Joe Heck voted against that measure.
Representative Joe Heck has said that the comparison by the Democrats of his health care coverage to health care reform is like comparing “apples to oranges”. It has been said by a transition director for Representative Joe Heck that Dr. Heck is simply receiving his health insurance through his employer, the exact same thing that millions of other Americans are doing.
I can think of one very notable difference between the Congressional health insurance plan that Representative Joe Heck has been offered, and the typical health insurance plan that is offered to millions of Americans through their employers. The one that Representative Joe Heck, and other elected officials, will be receiving is subsidized by taxpayer dollars.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has called Representative Joe Heck “a hypocrite” based on his choice to accept his health care plan. The implication is that Representatives who are trying to stop health care reform are, effectively, preventing millions of uninsured Americans from finding an affordable health care insurance plan. Therefore, those Representatives shouldn’t be accepting a government run insurance plan for themselves, while denying that same thing to Americans who don’t happen to be elected to Congress.
There is potential that his acceptance of the health care plan might come back to haunt him in future elections. Only time will tell how significant this controversial decision proves to be in the years ahead.
Image by Dave Newman on Flickr