Lawmakers wrestle with new health law for themselves

How are members of the Georgia congressional delegation getting their health insurance?

Enrolled in a plan through the D.C. exchange, accepting federal employer subsidy:

U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.; U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany; U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger; U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell; U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta

Enrolled through D.C. exchange, giving away federal subsidy:

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. (reducing office budget by subsidy amount and returning to Treasury); U.S. Rep. John Barrow, D-Augusta (sending subsidy amount from paycheck to Treasury); U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta (donating to charity); U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton (donating to charity)

Enrolled through Georgia exchange with no subsidy

U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Lawrenceville

Enrolled in plan outside the Affordable Care Act

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Athens (unclear); U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville (on plan through wife’s employer); U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Savannah (kept plan from state House); U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Coweta County (kept plan from state House)

Enrollment status unclear or still working on it

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-DeKalb County; U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta

The scramble for federal lawmakers and staff to sign up for new health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act has been infused, like most things on Capitol Hill, with political theater.

Republicans eagerly tweeted error messages and described hair-yanking troubles signing up, while many Democrats depicted it as a breeze.

As the majority of the Georgia congressional delegation signed up for a plan through the D.C. Health Link exchange, they got a firsthand view of the inner workings of a law they have fought about for more than four years through its drafting, passage and implementation.

“One thing about this process” said Democratic U.S. Rep. David Scott of Atlanta, a supporter of the law who said he signed up easily, “you get educated in the health care, the whole insurance thing, when you have to go on there and manipulate it.”

Under the law, federal lawmakers and most of their staffers were booted from their federal employee plans. Often bedeviled by uncertainty and website malfunctions, they rushed to sign up for a new plan by this past Monday in order to avoid a coverage gap come January.

Capitol Hill is in a unique situation under the law, as lawmakers and staffers remained eligible for employer subsidies from the federal government but were forced to select an exchange plan, a provision pushed by Republicans in the drafting process as a way for members to experience the full effects of the insurance overhaul.

The Obama administration chose to put all members and staffers under a small business plan in the D.C. exchange to keep them all in one place, rather than scattered across state exchanges.

But when the administration agreed to allow members and staffers to continue to receive the federal employer subsidy — up to 75 percent of premium costs — lawmakers saw a backlash at home.

Many Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey of Marietta, sought to strip away the subsidy, and there were discussions about adding language to that effect in a spending bill around the October government shutdown. But the subsidies remain in place.

Gingrey now plans to donate his subsidy to charity each month.

U.S. Rep. John Barrow, an Augusta Democrat, will have the amount of the subsidy sent from his paycheck to the U.S. Treasury. Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia will reduce his office budget by the amount of the subsidy and return it to the Treasury.

Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall of Lawrenceville declined the subsidy — and other congressional benefits — by enrolling in a plan on the Georgia exchange. He got through the faulty healthcare.gov website without much trouble after Obama administration officials repaired it early this month.

“Everyone else back home is going into the Georgia exchange if they’re being forced out of their insurance policy,” Woodall said. “I got forced out of my insurance policy, so I’m going to go on the Georgia exchange, too.”

He added he is not “part of the self-flagellation crowd” looking to strip away all the congressional subsidies. “I think folks have earned in a large-employer setting an employer contribution to their insurance.”

Odes to fairness prompted some in the Georgia delegation to change their initial plans in order to sign up on the exchanges.

Isakson, 68, had planned to join Medicare but signed up for a D.C. exchange plan because, spokeswoman Lauren Culbertson said, "he believes he should have to live under the same law as everyone else."

Democratic U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson had kept his plan from when he was a judge in DeKalb County, but he decided to enroll on the exchange this time. He was still working through the process Tuesday, a spokesman said.

Others opted out.

U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, a Gainesville Republican, ditched a federal plan to sign up for insurance through his wife’s job with the Hall County School District. Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Broun of Athens also dropped a federal plan, according to a spokeswoman who would not elaborate on what insurance Broun now has.

Nationwide attention focused on the struggles of healthcare.gov, the sign-up portal for states such as Georgia that did not set up their own health insurance exchanges. But lawmakers and staffers reported various difficulties with D.C. Health Link, as well.

Gingrey trudged through multiple error messages before he finally received a confirmation notice last week that he was enrolled in a health plan. Then he got another notice: He was ineligible because his primary residence is in Georgia.

He took the problem to congressional administrative staff, who were flummoxed, he said. So Gingrey re-enrolled and printed out a screen shot showing he was in. He’s still waiting on a formal notice.

“There are times,” Gingrey said, “when you want to just take a baseball bat to the computer screen.”

Monday was the end of Capitol Hill’s open enrollment period to keep continuous insurance in the new year, but given the D.C. exchange stumbles, House administrators told members and staffers that if they could prove they tried and failed to sign up before the deadline, they would have another chance to do so before the new year without a coverage gap.

Not all users reported struggles.

Scott signed up for a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan that had a somewhat higher deductible than his old plan under the Federal Employees Health Benefits program, he said, and the sign-up process took about 15 minutes.