To All Federal Workers

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By Jennifer L. Williams, Contributor, US Daily Review.

Nice…you have a few days off.

Don’t complain. I have many friends who work for the federal government and they are on furlough. You will eventually get paid. I am having difficulty mustering much sympathy for you. Here’s why.

You are exempt from the nightmare known as Obamacare – ALL of it. You still have a 40-hour week job and you have “healthcare” that conforms to the odd standards of Obamacare and cannot lose your healthcare. I will lose income because my employer has cut my hours and, although my current healthcare plan conforms to Obamacare, I have it by virtue of marriage. At any time, the healthcare provider can deem spouses as extra baggage and kick us to the curb. My options prior to Obamacare were many. Now, there are fewer options that are more expensive with coverage that I don’t need.

You still have a job. Be grateful and stop complaining about having a few days off without pay. As stated above, not only do you have a job, it is still 40 hours a week and you still get more pay working for the government than in the private sector. Oh…and that exemption from Obamacare…

Granted the Republicans should have done it differently, splitting out the budget in a continuing resolution from a bill that would delay the implementation of the individual mandate requirement, but the Democrats (you probably voted for) decided to side with their party rather than their constituents. The majority of this country wants to get rid of the law (and never wanted it in the first place) and Democrats and a few Republicans decided YOU were not important enough to vote for the bill that kept the government open and delay the individual mandate. They put politics above their constituents. Whether you want Obamacare gone because it does too much or not enough, it is a lousy law. If you want to argue it is now the law of the land, it doesn’t mean it is a good law and so was slavery once. Before you blame the Republicans, remember that Obama has not submitted a budget since he was elected….the first time…with a supermajority.

Maybe I should not complain so much. I still work. After January 1, despite the ridiculous “delay” in the employer mandate, I will still lose about 1/3 of my annual income because my company will not hedge bets that it will be permanently repealed. But I still have a job. And I am looking for more work to compensate. The job market isn’t great in my corner of the world. So it pays to not be picky right now.

I just hope that I will continue to have healthcare. I would not want to be subjected to the exchanges and their lack of security and choices EVER. I live in a state where our (pseudo) Republican governor took the money and ran so we will have the exchanges. From the people who gave you Common Core, too…dangle federal tax dollars in front of desperate, cash-short states, and they will take it, for all the wrong reasons. We no longer need the Department of Education or the Department of Health and Human Services. They have only done us a great disservice. I’m sure some of those 800,000 non-essential employees that have been furloughed come from those departments.

So enjoy your time off…mow the lawn, hit the local coffee shop and bookstores, hang around the house in your pajamas, play videos, read a book, shop QVC, and hang out on Facebook without worrying about your boss walking by. We’ll still be here.