I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 127
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an exemption
to the individual mandate to maintain health coverage for individuals
residing in counties with fewer than 2 health insurance issuers offering
plans on an Exchange; to require Members of Congress and congressional
staff to abide by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with
respect to health insurance coverage; and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. B
IGGSof Arizona introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on
Energy and Commerce, House Administration, and Oversight and Gov-
ernment Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide
an exemption to the individual mandate to maintain
health coverage for individuals residing in counties with
fewer than 2 health insurance issuers offering plans on
an Exchange; to require Members of Congress and con-
gressional staff to abide by the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act with respect to health insurance
coverage; and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protection from 2
Obamacare Mandates and Congressional Equity Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. MODIFICATIONS TO EXEMPTION FROM REQUIRE-4
MENT TO MAINTAIN HEALTH COVERAGE. 5
(a) E
XEMPTION FOR INDIVIDUALS INAREASWITH 6
F
EWERTHAN2 ISSUERSOFFERINGPLANS ON ANEX-7
CHANGE.—Section 5000A(e) of the Internal Revenue Code 8
of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following 9
new paragraph: 10
‘‘(6) I
NDIVIDUALS IN AREAS WITH FEWER 11
THAN 2 ISSUERS OFFERING PLANS ON AN EX -12
CHANGE.— 13
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Any applicable indi-14
vidual for any period during a calendar year if 15
there are fewer than 2 health insurance issuers 16
offering qualified health plans on an Exchange 17
for such period in the county in which the ap-18
plicable individual resides. 19
‘‘(B) A
GGREGATION RULES.—For purposes 20
of subparagraph (A), all health insurance 21
issuers treated as a single employer under sub-22
section (a) or (b) of section 52, or subsection 23
(m) or (o) of section 414, shall be treated as a 24
single health insurance issuer.’’. 25
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•HR 127 IH
(b) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 1
this section shall apply to months beginning after the date 2
of the enactment of this Act. 3
SEC. 3. HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR CERTAIN 4
CONGRESSIONAL STAFF AND MEMBERS OF 5
THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH. 6
Section 1312(d)(3)(D) of the Patient Protection and 7
Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18032(d)(3)(D)) is 8
amended— 9
(1) by striking the subparagraph heading and 10
inserting the following: 11
‘‘(D) M
EMBERS OF CONGRESS , CONGRES-12
SIONAL STAFF, AND POLITICAL APPOINTEES IN 13
THE EXCHANGE.—’’; 14
(2) in clause (i), in the matter preceding sub-15
clause (I)— 16
(A) by striking ‘‘and congressional staff 17
with’’ and inserting ‘‘, congressional staff, the 18
President, the Vice President, and political ap-19
pointees with’’; and 20
(B) by striking ‘‘or congressional staff 21
shall’’ and inserting ‘‘, congressional staff, the 22
President, the Vice President, or a political ap-23
pointee shall’’; 24
(3) in clause (ii)— 25
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•HR 127 IH
(A) in subclause (II), by inserting after 1
‘‘Congress,’’ the following: ‘‘of a committee of 2
Congress, or of a leadership office of Con-3
gress,’’; and 4
(B) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(III) P
OLITICAL APPOINTEE.— 6
The term ‘political appointee’ means 7
any individual who— 8
‘‘(aa) is employed in a posi-9
tion described under sections 10
5312 through 5316 of title 5, 11
United States Code (relating to 12
the Executive Schedule); 13
‘‘(bb) is a limited term ap-14
pointee, limited emergency ap-15
pointee, or noncareer appointee 16
in the Senior Executive Service, 17
as defined under paragraphs (5), 18
(6), and (7), respectively, of sec-19
tion 3132(a) of title 5, United 20
States Code; or 21
‘‘(cc) is employed in a posi-22
tion in the executive branch of 23
the Government of a confidential 24
or policy-determining character 25
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•HR 127 IH
under schedule C of subpart C of 1
part 213 of title 5 of the Code of 2
Federal Regulations.’’; and 3
(4) by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(iii) G
OVERNMENT CONTRIBUTION .— 5
No Government contribution under section 6
8906 of title 5, United States Code, shall 7
be provided on behalf of an individual who 8
is a Member of Congress, a congressional 9
staff member, the President, the Vice 10
President, or a political appointee for cov-11
erage under this paragraph. 12
‘‘(iv) L
IMITATION ON AMOUNT OF TAX 13
CREDIT OR COST SHARING .—An individual 14
enrolling in health insurance coverage pur-15
suant to this paragraph shall not be eligi-16
ble to receive a tax credit under section 17
36B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 18
or reduced cost sharing under section 1402 19
of this Act in an amount that exceeds the 20
total amount for which a similarly situated 21
individual (who is not so enrolled) would be 22
entitled to receive under such sections. 23
‘‘(v) L
IMITATION ON DISCRETION FOR 24
DESIGNATION OF STAFF .—Notwithstand-25
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•HR 127 IH
ing any other provision of law, a Member 1
of Congress shall not have discretion in de-2
terminations with respect to which employ-3
ees employed by the office of such Member 4
are eligible to enroll for coverage through 5
an Exchange. 6
‘‘(vi) C
LARIFICATION.—The terms 7
‘small employer’ (as defined under section 8
1304(b)(2)) and ‘qualified employers’ (as 9
defined under subsection (f)) do not in-10
clude the Congress, with respect to enroll-11
ments in an Exchange and a SHOP Ex-12
change.’’. 13
Æ
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