Carlson falsely suggests health care reform requires “all Americans” to participate in insurance exchanges

Carlson: President, lawmakers “want all other Americans” to enroll in exchange plans. From the March 29 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

CARLSON: So last week this started percolating that a couple Republican senators, [Sen. Chuck] Grassley [R-IA] and [Sen. Tom] Coburn [R-OK], they wanted to introduce this amendment because they were scratching their heads going, wait a minute, you want this health care reform for all Americans but you yourself, including the president, and other lawmakers, you're not going to take the same plan.

ELIZABETH MACDONALD, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: Right because the way the law is written, they get to keep the plan that they already have. So what happened was in the negotiations for health reform, Senator Harry Reid, according to Senator Grassley, said no to this amendment that Senator Grassley and Senator Coburn wanted, which would have said look any - the White House, Congress would have to be enrolled in these insurance exchanges. He shot it down and they're reintroducing the amendment.

CARLSON: All right. So why in your mind would the president and other lawmakers not want to enroll in what they want all other Americans to have?

Carlson previously claimed lawmakers don't have to do “what the American people are now going to be required to do.” During the March 24 edition of Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade stated: “Among the other things that I think stands out about this bill is that who's going to get it and who's not. For example, you heard the president of the United States talk about, I just want to give the American people what we here in Congress get, what federal workers get. But in the end, Senator Grassley points out the language in this is a carve out, preventing those lawmakers and their staffers from getting what they have just given the American people.” Carlson added, “I think that this is astounding that these lawmakers are not required to do exactly what the American people are now going to be required to do.”

Health care reform law does not require Americans to enroll in health care exchanges

Enrolling in exchanges is voluntary under health care reform. Contrary to the suggestion that participating in the state based insurance exchanges is mandatory, there is no such requirement, and indeed, only 24 million -- less than 9 percent of 282 million nonelderly people in the U.S. -- would be enrolled in the exchanges as of 2019, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while 159 million will have employer-sponsored coverage. Section 1312 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act states: “Nothing in this title shall be construed to restrict the choice of a qualified individual to enroll or not enroll in a qualified health plan or to participate in an Exchange”:

(d) EMPOWERING CONSUMER CHOICE.-

(1) CONTINUED OPERATION OF MARKET OUTSIDE EXCHANGES.-Nothing in this title shall be construed to prohibit-

(A) a health insurance issuer from offering outside of an Exchange a health plan to a qualified individual or qualified employer; and

(B) a qualified individual from enrolling in, or a qualified employer from selecting for its employees, a health plan offered outside of an Exchange.

(2) CONTINUED OPERATION OF STATE BENEFIT REQUIREMENTS.-Nothing in this title shall be construed to terminate, abridge, or limit the operation of any requirement under State law with respect to any policy or plan that is offered outside of an Exchange to offer benefits.

(3) VOLUNTARY NATURE OF AN EXCHANGE.-

(A) CHOICE TO ENROLL OR NOT TO ENROLL.-Nothing in this title shall be construed to restrict the choice of health plan or to participate in an Exchange.

(B) PROHIBITION AGAINST COMPELLED ENROLLMENT.- Nothing in this title shall be construed to compel an individual to enroll in a qualified health plan or to participate in an Exchange.

“Members of Congress and congressional staff” will only be offered health insurance through the exchanges. The Act states: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the effective date of this subtitle, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or (II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).”

White House, Congress, and federal employees are subject to same health care reforms applied to American people. Contrary to the suggestion made by Carlson and other media figures, the White House, Congress and federal employees are not exempt from the health care reforms applied to the American people. For instance, federal employees will be required to carry health insurance like everyone else and pay applicable taxes.