Swallowing Your Own Medicine

Talk about swallowing your own medicine: The Office of Personnel Management has published a proposed rule explaining how members of Congress and their staff will choose health coverage for next year. No longer will they have access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan. Instead, lawmakers and their direct hires will pick a plan through the new health care exchanges that go online Oct. 1. That's because Congress included the requirement in the Affordable Care Act. Unlike the general public, those on Capitol Hill won't be able to take advantage of tax credits. But they'll still get contributions from the federal government, as their employer, to defray the cost of the insurance premiums.