Last week, to little fanfare, Joe “You Lie!” Wilson unveiled an amendment that would “force” members of Congress onto the “government-run public option” that was about to be passed in the House’s approval of HR 3962 (supposedly he got the idea while having lunch with a group of seniors in Hilton Head, SC):

Of course, Wilson didn’t bother to point out that if he partakes in the standard Congressional health plan as provided by Federal Employees Health benefit Plan (FEHBP), which covers all 8 million federal employees, the federal government- as in, our tax dollars- covers 75% of his monthly premium.  Not a bad public option that Rep. Wilson currently enjoys, and which he is posturing to prevent others who currently have no option from enjoying.  What a guy!

What is curious, and perhaps this could be asked to those who feel that the planned health care reform will ‘bankrupt’ private insurance companies and “put them out of business”, is that through the FEHBP, Congress has the option of purchasing insurance from a consortium of 300 private health insurance providers.  The FEHBP has high rates of satisfaction by its customers, and the most popular purchased plan is a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan. If members of Congress for the most part purchase private insurance that they are mostly satisfied with, why the heck would they pass legislation that would put these private insurance providers out of business?  Why, that would defy all logic!

By the way, it was reported that Joe Wilson’s wife contracted H1N1.  I hope that when she was dealing with 103 degree temperature and the Congressman attended to her needs, that he took a moment and reminded her that he voted against funding for a swine flu vaccine.  Somehow, I find that highly unlikely.

H1N1 | health care | Joe Wilson | public option | swine flu