Christopher Shays: “And the exciting part, I think, or the very sensible part of what we have as Federal employees, because as Congressmen…”

“And the exciting part, I think, or the very sensible part of what we have as Federal employees, because as Congressmen, we have that same plan that all Federal employees have, is that we can choose to upgrade our plan and spend 28 percent on the more expensive plan, or we can choose to lower it each year. But we never have a problem of there being a pre-existing condition. And thinking how it would work in the private sector, you move to another job and you will be able to keep the same plan. Or you are unemployed. You lost your job. And you have this huge fear of buying COBRA and having to pay all of the cost, and you can't. You're not working. In this case, you would be part of the government coverage, and it would be paid for almost entirely by the government, in that instance, until you were back working. And what's hugely important about that is to recognize though, that that individual wouldn't, then, be able to get the most expensive plan, they'd have the basic plan. But the basic plan is a good plan.”