Should Congress be stripped of their health benefits?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

if you like this thread, a little help?

[bkkyosemite]

1. This is the easiest poll I've done.

[Shagbark Hickory]

2. They should be forced to have worthless "indiviudal plans" or HMO's or health savings accounts

[donheld]

3. I'm sick of paying for their health care

when they refuse to get care for everyone else.

[bkkyosemite]

4. Maybe those 3 no votes are congressmen that are on DU..hey we don't get healthcare you don't either

see how it feels.

[BlooInBloo]

5. Heh. Tempting, but no. Because then only people rich enough to afford their own...

could reasonably contemplate running. It's hard enough for normal folks now - don't wanna make it worse. No matter how satisfying it would be.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. don't they get health care for the rest of their life - after

serving just one term?

and aren't most of them wealthy once they serve, if they weren't already?

Certainly little Pattie McHenry in North Carolina got rich after he was elected.

[me b zola]

7. Until we have what they have...

YES

[kenny blankenship]

8. You forgot clawback of their salaries to reflect the bad economic conditions & their non-performance

and infecting their kids/spouses with tuberculosis and/or HIV.

That should light a fire under their ass.

[Oregone]

9. Stripped by who? Congress?

[orleans]

30. lol. exactly. (i voted yes anyway!) n/t

[TexasObserver]

10. Absolutely. They should be required to go a year with no health insurance.

[Historic NY]

11. Doing that would turn off their life support. Then again most have been dead for years.

[SleeplessInAlabama]

12. No but I think they deserve a downgrade

to "American-style health care", or Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

[stuball111]

13. And send em to the Wise County Fairground in West Virginia

And make them stand in line, WITH their families in tow!:mad:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

20. or tell them to go to the ER

like we are so often told.

[Cass]

14. Without a doubt. They need to get it through their heads they are no better than the rest of us.

If its too expensive or burdensome to make health care affordable and accessible to the rest of us then its too expensive and burdensome for us to continue subsidize it for them. We don't do monarchies here and they should have to live under the same system the rest of us do.

[armyowalgreens]

15. I said no on basic principle.

But I understand how that would be an effective method to get them to do something about health care.

[cali]

16. Fantasy poll.

so sure, it's a nice fantasy.

[no_hypocrisy]

18. Agreed. Asking Congress to deny themselves.

What were you thinking . . . .

[Vidar]

17. Their health benefits, their pay &, in many cases, their heads.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

19. 91 votes

thats awesome. More!

[Donnachaidh]

21. where's the HELL YES button?

Tell them ALL they need to go on COBRA, and then buy their own insurance on the open market. And STOP giving insurance to single-termers. Let THEM deal with REALITY just like the rest of the poor slobs out there.

[npk]

22. Hell yes. n/t

[Strong Atheist]

23. Congress should have to live under all the same laws the rest of us

do that they exempt themselves from (such as civil rights laws).

Oh, and they should all be paid minimum wage, with no $100,000 plus salaries for the rest of their lives after they get out...

[snot]

24. AND they shd have to buy their own ins. under pseudonyms, to make sure

they don't get special treatment from the ins. cos.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

25. I'd like to see some kind of check against them for taking so much in campaign contributions

from the healthcare industry. People probably vote for these guys and fall for their political ads, without really knowing how much money and influence is affecting campaigns. I know that political contributions are a form of free speech and can't be curtailed. But how about mandating free time on network television for every political ad, giving a citizens' watchdog group the opportunity to reveal how much that politican has taken in from the healthcare and insurance lobby (or any other lobby group for that matter)? The health care sector gave $167 million in campaign contributions to congressional candidates in the 2008 election cycle. And health care companies poured $484 million into lobbying efforts in 2008, and are on pace to exceed that this year. The healthcare industry is trying to get deeply involved in healthcare reform as never before, making sure they have their say on how it's going to come down. I know it's hard when the only ones who can effectuate change are the congressional people themselves and the media are not going to stick their necks out to embarrass and expose these Washington beltway aristocrats.

[newtothegame]

26. Well of course we know the answer; but what does knowing the answer do for us? n/t

[Lifelong Protester]

27. They should have to feel for just a month, even, the terror

and fear that people who have lost or might lose, their health insurance feel. I know it is a fantasy, but I would like them to have to really understand this from the ground up. Just one illness or unforseen injury, and poof! Your future is gone.

Barring that, I would be happy to require all of them to go to a RAM event (the Remote Access Medical event that we all saw pictures from) and wait, and wait, and wait. I'd be happy if they took the time to go there and really have the scales fall from their eyes, have a real epiphany.

And in third place, I'd settle for them being barred from any campaign contributions from the Health Insurance Industry.

Hey, if this is a fantasy, I'm going for broke.

[TheKentuckian]

28. Other: I don't care because they are already rich and wouldn't feel a thing but pride stinging them

if that.

I think it's goofy that people think these people take their jobs for the same reasons we do. They could give a fuck.

[elleng]

29. They should be FORCED

by LOUD word of mouth in their jurisdictions to acknowledge that the existing proposal(s) contain provisions similar/identical to their own, that is, the health insurance exchange, and SHAMED if they maintain they will not support such, that is, they won't provide the same as they have for their constituents.