SALT LAKE CITY — Over the last few months, members of Congress and their staffs have been worried about losing their health care subsidies and being forced to participate in the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges, as the rest of us will be required to do.

Now, President Obama has stepped forward to help them get around the law, using the Office of Personnel Management to promise them to continue making the 75 percent contributions, even though members' salaries are $174,000 a year.

Like something out of George Orwell's "Animal Farm," it appears that as Americans we are all equal, but some of us — especially the politically well-connected in Congress — are more equal.

The members of Congress and the White House are working together to give themselves and their politically well-connected staffers exemptions from participating in the mandated health exchanges.

It’s a level of elitism that might have been written by Orwell.

In his allegorical novel, “Animal Farm,” Orwell tells the story of a revolt of farm animals against their lazy and oppressive human master, Mr. Jones. Led by the pigs Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer, the animals drive Mr. Jones from the farm and rename it “Animal Farm,” rejoicing that they will finally be able to partake of the full benefits of their labor. No longer will the farmer take their eggs or milk, slaughter them for their meat, or enslave them in the fields. Instead, the animals set about establishing a society based on rules of equality, the most important of which is that “all animals are equal.”

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Of course, all is not well in Denmark, and before long the pigs are taking advantage of their fellow animals’ generosity and hope. By the end of the novel, the farm has fallen into disrepair under the management of the pigs, who have taught themselves to walk, dress and act like humans until it is difficult to see the difference.

Then, one morning, the animals all wake up to find the rules on the side of the barn painted over and a new rule replacing them. “All animals are equal” has become “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

It is hard not to find echoes of “some animals are more equal than others” in the deal Obama and the congressional leadership are negotiating to protect themselves against the effects of Obamacare on members of Congress and their staffers.

The Affordable Care Act, what we call Obamacare, requires that all members of Congress and their staffers participate in the insurance exchanges that are being imposed on the public, including making contributions to the cost, just like the rest of us. If it’s good enough for the American people, it should be good enough for members of Congress and their staffers, was the thinking when Obamacare passed.

Instead, members of Congress are asking the president to find a way for the government to continue to contribute up to 75 percent of the costs on behalf of them and their staffers.

According to Politico, “Until now, (the Office of Personnel Management) had not said if the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program could contribute premium payments toward plans on the exchange. If payments stopped, lawmakers and aides would have faced thousands of dollars in additional premium payments each year. Under the old system, the government contributed nearly 75 percent of premium payments.”

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That means, says an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, that “about 11,000 Members and congressional staff will lose the generous coverage they now have as part of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). Instead they will get the lower-quality, low-choice 'Medicaid Plus' of the exchanges. The Members — annual salary: $174,000 — and their better paid aides also wouldn't qualify for ObamaCare subsidies. That means they could be exposed to thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket insurance costs.”

Just like the rest of us.

Now, after “unusual” intervention by Obama, the Politico article goes on to say, the Office of Personnel Management will make a ruling that will allow the government to continue to pay up to 75 percent of the health care premiums of members — who make $174,000 a year — and their higher paid staffers.

The whole flap arose because members of Congress feared a “brain drain” next year when the law goes into effect and the staffers began to leave Capitol Hill to avoid the higher health care costs. The president conducted closed-door meetings with Democrats, promising to fix the problem through the Office of Personnel Management.

The Wall Street Journal is questioning whether the move is even legal. Republicans on Capitol Hill offered to fix the problem with legislation, a solution that Obama turned down out of fear that Republicans might change other things in the law that bears his name, and Democrats would vote for it just to make sure they kept their gold-plated benefits.

Instead, Obama will attempt to again change the law unilaterally and possibly illegally, this time only to benefit the politically well-connected.

After all, in America we are all equal, but some of us are more equal than others.

Daniel Burton lives in Holladay, Utah, where he practices law by day and everything else by night. You can follow him on his blog PubliusOnline.com, where he muses on politics, books and ideas.

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