John Boehner will see his insurance premiums rise...yes, that means Obamacare is working!

Praising the NHS while speaking in Britain, Don Berwick argued several years ago that excellent health care is by definition redistribution. And he was exactly right -- setting aside the fact that falling ill in and of itself is a horrible cost to bear (if I must use the harsh language of microeconomics) -- because a socially-just and humane health care system will be financed in such a way that those with the most financial capacity to pay for health care pay the most, while those with the least resources, wait for it, pay the least. This is why most rich countries employ single-payer systems (something akin to Medicare for all) financed by progressive taxation. Only in America do millionaires like Ted Cruz -- with his wife's Goldman Sachs insurance plan worth at least $20,000  -- pay the least for health care, while the poor and middle class struggle with deductibles, co-pays and co-insurance that leave them vulnerable to bankruptcy and financial crisis.

Obamacare starts to reverse this perverse upward redistribution of wealth in the mildest way possible for our overtaxed billionaire class, but Politico still wants us to know that John Boehner is suffering as a result.

Boehner and his wife, Debbie, currently pay a monthly premium of $433 for family coverage from Blue Cross Blue Shield, with a deductible of $700, according to his office. Last week, the speaker began shopping for a new plan in the D.C. exchange, a search his office drew attention to by tweeting pictures of him trying to enroll.

This is what he found at the market: To keep a similar plan, the Boehners would have to pay $802 per month in premiums, with a deductible of $2,000. Instead, Debbie Boehner, who becomes eligible for Medicare when she turns 65 next month, will get coverage through the government’s insurance program for the elderly. She already had applied for Medicare Part A, which covers hospital care. When she adds in either Parts B and D, or Medicare Advantage, which acts to bundle the various parts of Medicare, she will pay between $350 and $400 per month in premiums, according to Boehner’s office.

The speaker, who is 64, chose to sign up for an individual plan with benefits similar to those he receives under FEHB. That will cost him $449 per month in premiums, and the policy carries a $1,000 deductible. So, he’ll pay more next year for himself than he paid this year for both himself and his wife — and, together, the Boehners will still pay roughly $800 per month in premiums with deductibles in the $2,000 range.

Cry us a river, John! First of all, if Boehner had the discipline to quit smoking his premiums would be lower from the start. Second, Boehner is still getting some sort of employment-based subsidy for his insurance (like all employees of Congress) -- it's unclear if Politico neglected this fact in parroting GOP talking points.  Regardless, though, the whole point of Obamacare is that, when all is said and done, the wealthy -- and the Boehner family is quite wealthy, making over $200,000/ year -- should have to pay more for maintenance of the US health care-industrial complex than the clerk who sells him his cancer sticks at 7-11. This is all pretty logical, and, unsurprisingly, means that while Boehner is paying more, his low-paid staff will perhaps contribute, when all is said and done, less to the health care system than they did in the past.

While many younger lawmakers and aides — and many more folks outside the Capitol — will see their premiums go down under the Affordable Care Act, some House Democratic aides have complained in recent days of sticker shock for older employees who have begun shopping for new coverage under Obamacare, and a handful of lawmakers in their late 50s and early 60s have privately noted that they will see a huge spike in their premiums.

So, in short, while it sucks to be Boehner, who will have to pay more for health care than he did in the past (it would be a win-win for him if he stopped smoking and then saved money on cigs and premiums), what's happening to Boehner is exactly what should be happening. Obamacare is working as it should -- redistribution, the New York Times reminds us, is happening:

“Redistribution is a loaded word that conjures up all sorts of unfairness in people’s minds,” said William M. Daley, who was Mr. Obama’s chief of staff at the time. Republicans wield it “as a hammer” against Democrats, he said, adding, “It’s a word that, in the political world, you just don’t use.”

These days the word is particularly toxic at the White House, where it has been hidden away to make the Affordable Care Act more palatable to the public and less a target for Republicans, who have long accused Democrats of seeking “socialized medicine.” But the redistribution of wealth has always been a central feature of the law and lies at the heart of the insurance market disruptions driving political attacks this fall.

So, Boehner-types will pay a bit more so thousands of cigarette-selling 7-11 clerks can now afford health insurance for the first time in their lives. Sounds fair to me. It also sounds fair to the rest of the rich -- and much of the poor -- world.

And, if you're still angry about the whole situation, worry not, Mr. Speaker, in just a single year you'll be on single-payer Medicare alongside your lucky wife.