From Carolina Journal’s Barry Smith:
Most of North Carolina’s congressional staffers — the men and women who work for the state’s two U.S. senators and 13 members of the U.S. House of Representatives — will be entering the District of Columbia’s health care exchange once the Affordable Care Act takes effect in January.
One notable exception: the office of 1st District Rep. G.K. Butterfield.
“The consensus amongst my team was to keep the same employer-sponsored coverage every other employee receives,” Butterfield said in a statement.
The Wilson County Democrat added that he instead had enrolled in the D.C. Health Link, the Obamacare exchange for the District of Columbia.
Members have some flexibility in deciding if their staff members could continue receiving health insurance benefits under the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program or they must enroll on the D.C. exchange.
A controversial Office of Personnel Management rule let members determine if individual staff members are considered “official” or “non-official,” said Bob Moffit, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Official members must enroll on the D.C. exchange, while non-official staff could continue under the federal benefits program.
“Staff in the leadership office and all congressional committee staff would be exempt and can stay on the federal employees program,” Moffit said. Other exempted employees who could remain on the federal benefits program include nonpartisan staff, such as those working for the Congressional Budget Office and the Library of Congress.
