That’s what a real 97% consensus looks like, but, it can’t be that bad, can it? One would think that those who work in the federal workforce are overwhelmingly Democrat. In fact “35.1% of those who participated identified themselves as a Republican. 30.8% identified themselves as independents and 30.7% identified themselves as a Democrat.” A 2008 survey found that Obama was preferred by 7%. For 2012, 58.2% said they did not want Obama re-elected.
(Daily Caller) Less than 3 percent of U.S. federal workers want to give up their current health plans and join Obamacare, according to a new poll.
92.3 percent of federal workers think that they should continue with their current health insurance program, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), while just 2.8 percent think they should be required to join Obamacare exchanges and 4.9 percent are not sure, according to an August survey conducted by FedSmith.com, a website for federal employees.
“There is apparently little debate among the federal workforce. Federal employees do not want to be part of the new system… Employees who are already retired have a much stronger negative reaction to being moved to a new system,†FedSmith.com noted.
Let’s consider that federal workers tend to have a pretty sweet deal with their government provided healthcare. Also, federal workers, other than Congress and their staffs, do not actually have to enroll in Obamacare. But, will the plans last? The plans are actually very cost friendly, with the government pitching in around $5,000 per consumer (2010 costs were $40 billion, with approx 8 million enrollees, which includes spouses and dependents). I usually hate to cite Wikipedia, but
Over time, however, the FEHB program has outperformed original Medicare not only in cost control, but also in benefit improvement, enrollee service, fraud prevention, and avoidance of “pork barrel” spending and earmarks.
Then there’s this
One of the most prominent features of the FEHB program is the choices it allows. There are three broad types of plans: fee-for-service and preferred provider organization (PPO), usually offered in combination; HMOs; and high-deductible health plans and other consumer-driven plans.
Ah, but consider that Obamacare does away with many of these plans, ones that do not include all the massive out of control coverages, ones that are basic, and most high deductible ones. The legislation establishing the FEHB is only a few dozen pages long. Federal employees have lots and lots of choices. Costs tend to be controlled, even as federal unions attempt to pull more and more during contract negotiations.
If Obama and the Dems were going to push a national health plan, why couldn’t they model it on one that works? But, no, the idea was to have the federal government control everything about one’s health insurance and care, moving towards single payer.
