Health Care In The House of Delegates

UPDATE:  We are over 1/3 having responded so far!  In addition- we also had our first refusal this morning- Delegate Bill Janis doesn't want to say if he is using the state health insurance program!  Is he against transparency in government spending?

Last week I submitted a request to House Clerk Bruce Jamerson:

Bruce,

Writing today with a quick request. I know Delegates can sign up for health care for themselves and their families once elected. Obviously since the House is a part time position, I assume some of the members do not take advantage of this program because they already have health care through their employers.

What I'd like to see is which Delegates do enroll in health care through your office. Statistics would be nice, but I'd really like to get down into individuals, and whether they sign up for themselves, or their entire families. Would your office be willing to make this information available? I requested this from Beth earlier, and she suggested I email you directly about it.

Thanks in advance,

Ben Tribbett

From that, I received this impressively timed reply given that no one has ever requested this information before:

Dear Mr. Tribbett,

I am in receipt of your request for information concerning health care enrollments by members of the House of Delegates. Please be advised that health care enrollment records relating to specific House members are protected from disclosure as personnel records pursuant to § 2.2-3705.1 (1) and thus will not be released in that form. However, I am attaching aggregiate information, which does not identify individual House members, that is responsive to your request.

Please be further advised that nothing in the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.) prevents you from contacting House members directly for more specific information.

Thank you for contacting this office.

Bruce F. Jamerson Clerk of the House of Delegates and Keeper of the Rolls of the Commonwealth

With that, I began a process Thursday and Friday of calling all 99 offices and requesting information on whether or not the member had enrolled in the state program- and if they had, which one they did.  So far I have received replies from 25 27 36 48 offices and began plugging those names into the statistics that Bruce sent.  Here's what we've got so far:

Single Coverage (6 of 13) Todd Gilbert, Mark Sickles, Charniele Herring, Adam Ebbin, Riley Ingram, Joe Morrissey

Dual Coverage (7 of 25): Jim Shuler, Ken Plum, Jim Scott, Lee Ware, Johnny Joannou, Robin Abbott, Glenn Oder

Family Coverage (15 of 32): Ward Armstrong, Bob Marshall, Scott Garrett, Matt Lohr, Ed Scott, Kaye Kory, Tim Hugo, Dave Albo, David Englin, Jackson Miller, James Edmunds, Manoli Loupassi, Sal Iaquinto, Chris Peace, Albert Pollard

Waived Coverage (20 of 29): Will Morefield, Bill Carrico, Dickie Bell, Tag Greason, Joe May, Barbara Comstock, Mark Keam, David Bulova, Vivian Watts, Scott Surovell, Patrick Hope, Bob Brink, Rich Anderson, Luke Torian, Bobby Orrock, John Cox, Jennifer McClellan, Lionell Spruill, Matthew James, Paula Miller

For any members reading this who are not yet included, please email me (notlarrysabato@hotmail.com) your information ASAP, and I will continue to update this post.  I'll make another round of calls this week and keep doing so until we get all 99 members.

Comments

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkYqVwrKwZRlpD2yAerf60smeBA4DpEeUc]

Of course, we all know that providing health care to government employees is just one part of the many evils of big government and that no-god-fearing, free market conservative Republican would ever stoop to participating in a socialistic, government-
sponsored social- engineering program.

[Wellescent Health Blog]

It will be interesting to see just how many of these Delegates are taking advantage of the coverage versus using their own resources to cover the costs. What statistics are you hoping to pull out?

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

What's the point? Are we really going to begrudge people who get paid $17,000 a year health insurance? The job may be part time, but c'mon. For the amount of crap they get, delegates are exceedingly overworked and underpaid. I don't think it's fair to complain about whether they get health care or not.

[Not Larry Sabato]

Brian- how am I begrudging people anything? I just think we have a right to see where our tax dollars are being spent. Nothing wrong with that, right?

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

Ben, I'm sure the route you're going to take is to compare the number of folks who accept health care through this job and compare it with the list who voted for Marshall's health care freedom bill, or just disagree with the Administration in general and call them hypocritical.

Like I said, these guys get paid nothing for a "part-time" job that is anything but part-time. Even if they don't support government run health care, that doesn't mean they're hypocrites for accepting one of the very few perks of that job.

[kelley in virginia]

NLS: I, too, am interested in this because we pay for it.

like Brian, I think they deserve state employee health insurance. But we still should know about it.

[change]

It looks like almost one third have chosen not to participate in the program. I would think that one would wish to compare those who have made a personal choice NOT to participate with their vote on Marshall’s bill, given that it supports their right not to purchase something that they do not want.

[Interesting]

So far from these stats 8/12 Republicans want the government plan- and 6/15 Democrats do.

[Not Larry Sabato]

Brian, try not to wet the bed before you need to.

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

I guess it's the law student in me. I'm trying to anticipate your line of attack based on the question. I think I'm pretty close to where you intend to go. I could spend more time guessing, but I'm analyzing the House's budget bill that was introduced today and that doesn't include many of the cuts you've been complaining about, like school lunches, state parks and the like.

[Mags]

NLS: What type of health insurance do you have, how much do you pay and does your employer pay a portion, provided you are employed either privately or publicly? Would think that because you're interested in the House members who participate, you are willing to share your side of the equation.

[Not Larry Sabato]

Hey Mags- I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield, I pay $273.45 a month for an individual plan and no, my employer does not pay any of it.

[David]

Ben, They earn every penny. Nothing wrong with knowing the facts.
$17,000 per year.
Health insurance value.
How much per diem do they receive on average?

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkYqVwrKwZRlpD2yAerf60smeBA4DpEeUc]

Boys:

It is not a question as to whether members of the House of Delegates deserve government-sponsored and
-subsidized health care; it is about Republican and Conservative hypocrisy in criticizing government-sponsored and subsidized health care for others under the guise that such health care is socialistic and destructive of public morality.

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkYqVwrKwZRlpD2yAerf60smeBA4DpEeUc]

Who knew that Todd Gilbert, Riley Ingram, Bob Marshall, Tim Hugo, Dave Albo, Manoli Loupassi, Sal Iaquinto, and Chris Peace were really closet socialists?

Who else will be coming out of the socialist closet next?

[Gretchen Laskas]

I suspect that Brian is probably right about Ben's motivations. I'd add that if I were doing the tally, I'd also want to know how many of those accepting family care voted to deny such benefits to long-term gay couples, but that's just me.

I'm pleased that the Commonwealth, using my tax dollars, offers health care to its House of Delegates. I hope it is an outstanding plan.

Yes, it is technically part time, but as many of us who have worked in part-time jobs (often without the benefit of health insurance) can tell you, "Part time" often is misleading in terms of real hours.

[wow]

Shouldn't we ask if their full time positions offer health care and if it does why they would choose the state to cover their families? Like Dave Albo's law firm. I am pretty sure it has health insurance for partners.

[wow]

So far from these stats 8/12 Republicans want the government plan- and 6/15 Democrats do.

Posted by: Interesting | February 21, 2010 at 05:22 PM

Better Visual 66.6% of Republicans take State sponsored health care - 40% of Democrats.

[bob marshall]

Unless Anthem has been taken over by the state of Virginia, it is still a private health plan, some of whose subscribers are public employees.
And HB 10 deals with federal mandates to purchase private health insurance which the Congressional Budget office states has NEVER been done in 220 years.

This same mandate power could require everyone to purchase new insulation for their homes, a new car to get the economy going especially Government Motors cars, or put you money in certain banks whose chief execs would be giving donations to members of Congress.

Government by mandate is government by status, and not government by contract between elected officials and teh people. IT is appropriate and good for serfs, not citizens.

The Congressional Research Service says these mandates are unprecedented and doubts if the Commerce Clause gives Congress the authority to impose the mandates under penalty of heavy fines and jail time.

[Not Larry Sabato]

Bob, why don't you have a bill to repeal mandatory car insurance that Virginia already requires?

[Haywood Jablomi]

Ben, car insurance isn't mandatory in Virginia: http://www.dmv.state.va.us/webdoc/citizen/vehicles/uninsured_fee.asp.

Try again.

[Not Larry Sabato]

Neither is federal health insurance- they have a "fee" if you refuse to participate. It's set up identically the fees state government assigns for not taking auto insurance.

[Not Larry Sabato]

I only called it "mandatory car insurance" since Delegate Marshall has called the federal plan "mandatory health insurance" even though they are both identical (hefty) fees if you don't participate.

[change]

google,
You are talking apples and oranges. These are just employees, with a plan just like any other. Although I will be the first to agree that much of the government gets too much in the way of benefits and perks, I don’t think this rises to that level.
Maybe when you get old enough to get off your parents system you might begin to understand how the system works.

[change]

The comparison to car insurance is off base. You may choose NOT to drive is you don’t want to pay for car insurance.

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkYqVwrKwZRlpD2yAerf60smeBA4DpEeUc]

Change:

The Virginia state employee health insurance program is government-sponsored and -subsidized; my parents never had a health care program since they were deceased over fifty years ago.

Why is it socialism when Democrats get access to government-sponsored and -subsidized heath care and not when Republican suck at the government teat?

You can now add Ed Scott and Jackson Miller to the list of Republican Socialist hypocrites; anyone notice the pattern of Republicans who practice "do as I say, not as I do" when it comes to personal actions?

[Vabreeze]

Wow-how many part-time jobs in Virginia offer health insurance? Lousy pay and hard work-maybe- but it would be interesting to find out if ANY company in Virginia offers such a plan.

[GOPHokie]

I would point out that the major difference between legislators getting health insurance from the government and everyone getting free healthcare from the government is that legislators are being compensated for a job.
National healthcare is a gift from the government that you don't have to do anything for.
While we may think our legislators don't do anything, it is still a job they are compensated for; and health insurance benefits happen to be one of the ways they are compensated for that job.

[GOPHokie]

As for the health insurance fee compared to DMV insurance fee, the DMV insurance fee is the public's requirement that in order to own a car you must pay to do so. This is very similar to a locality requiring you to pay taxes to own a house/land/car/boat/etc.
You can't really require someone to pay a fee to be alive (although maybe this a secret trick for the pro-choice folks!)

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkYqVwrKwZRlpD2yAerf60smeBA4DpEeUc]

GOP hypocrisy reigns supreme!

What for Democrats is a sin, for Republicans is a virtue!

Teabaggers arise and revolt; ypou have nothing to lose but your chains.

[change]

Hokie,
Some people are not concerned with facts.

Google,
From your postings, I would never have guessed you were any older than 17 or 18, I suppose age does not always bring greater wisdom. But keep trying you may mature some day.

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkYqVwrKwZRlpD2yAerf60smeBA4DpEeUc]

Change:

From your postings, I
would have concluded that you were the reincarnation of Harding, Coolidge or Hoover or William Graham Sumner!

[just wondering]

Dickie Bell might have waived coverage from the House of Delegates, but does he still get it from the school district that he works for?