How would you like to be able to purchase the finest health care coverage in the world at a 72 percent discount?

Then get elected to Congress and you can also draw a $174,000 salary, have access to a host of travel and expense allowance perks and still earn up to 15 percent of your salary in outside activities. In other words, you can have a side job and investments while an elected fulltime legislator.

And if you climb the congressional ladder, you can earn higher pay. The Vice President, who also serves as President of the Senate, earns $231,900, the Speaker of the House $223,000, and the majority and minority leaders $193,400.

This brings me to comments in a news release I received last Thursday from House Member Martha Roby of Montgomery. Reacting to a news report that some members of Congress are considering exempting themselves and their staff from provisions of the new health care law, Rep. Roby chimed in on the issue. Here are Rep. Roby’s exact words. “Some in Congress now want to exempt themselves and their staff from ObamaCare. How about we exempt everyone in the United States from this costly, overreaching law by repealing ObamaCare once and for all.”

She continued, calling for the “full repeal of ObamaCare along with additional efforts to dismantle the law piece-by-piece.” I emailed her office to find out if she had government health insurance.

Since I have not heard back from Rep. Roby or her staff, I will presume that she has not declined the gold-plated health care plan provided to congresspersons and their families. The plan has no requirement for medical examinations on enrollment, no pre-existing condition exclusions or waiting periods, the choice of self-only or self-and-family coverage, and an employer contribution toward premiums that averages about 72 percent of the total cost.

Congresspersons, unlike other federal employees, also are eligible to receive health care services from the Office of the Attending Physician in the Capitol for an annual cost of $563, regardless of whether they are enrolled in the health insurance plan. That service includes routine exams, consultations, certain diagnostic tests and prescriptions for drugs. Members of Congress are also authorized to receive medical and emergency dental care at military treatment facilities, and can continue their insurance into retirement if they are eligible for a federal annuity and if they have been continuously enrolled for the prior five years. Members can set aside money pre-tax in flexible spending accounts, which can be used to pay some out of pocket costs.

This situation in Congress permeates all of government in the Nation at the national, state and local levels. One of the biggest attractions to public employment in this country is the generous health care benefits at a cost far below that in the private sector. I can attest to that, having spent nearly three decades as a state official. So, I suggest to Rep. Roby and all the Alabama congressional delegation; take a poll in your district and ask how many have adequate health coverage. Then tell them what Congress pays for one of the finest plans in the world for you and your colleagues. Then explain to them why they should march on Washington to kill ObamaCare. I suggest they will march instead to kill CongressionalCare.

Education wins one

Legislation to repeal Alabama’s Common Core standards for public schools has been stymied for this legislative session but will probably be back on the agenda next year. Anything involving Common Core is now off the table, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, told us this past week.

His announcement after 300 educators and supporters gathered on the Capitol steps last week to show their support for Common Core. The leader of the event, state Superintendent of Education Tommy Bice, lauded Marsh’s announcement. “In the end truth has prevailed, and the students in Alabama schools will now be afforded the education they each deserve in preparing them to be college and career ready,” Bice told the crowd that at gathered.

Despite Sen. Scott Beason of Gardendale, one of the bill’s sponsor’s disappointment, this was a good day for education in our state.

Bob Martin is editor and publisher of The Montgomery Independent. Email him at: bob@montgomeryindependent.com