Through Loophole, Lawmakers May Determine Staff Health Coverage

In the on­go­ing saga of Cap­it­ol Hill staff in­sur­ance cov­er­age, Con­gres­sion­al of­fices must de­cide this week which of their staff to put on the D.C. health in­sur­ance ex­changes, and which will re­main on their cur­rent plans, ad­min­istered through the Fed­er­al Em­ploy­ee Health Be­ne­fits Pro­gram, ac­cord­ing to Politico.

House and Sen­ate per­son­al staff dubbed “of­fi­cial of­fice” aides are sup­posed to use the Obama­care ex­change, while com­mit­tee and lead­er­ship staff, or “of­fi­cial staff,” may keep their cur­rent plans.

However, mem­bers of the House and Sen­ate may quietly al­low their staff to keep their cur­rent plans by des­ig­nat­ing them “of­fi­cial staff.”

House Minor­ity Lead­er Nancy Pelosi said Wed­nes­day that her staff will all be re­quired to pur­chase in­sur­ance through the ex­change. House mem­bers must make their de­cisions by 5 p.m. Thursday.