After vote, Brown relents on taking federal coverage
The Columbus Dispatch – Dating to his time in the U.S. House, Sen. Sherrod Brown hasn't enrolled in a federal health plan, saying he wouldn't partake of the plan available to members of Congress while so many Americans lacked access to coverage.
The Democrat said last week, however, that with the passage of the health-care-reform bill that aims to cover 32 million uninsured Americans, he now will accept government health-care coverage for him and his wife, Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz, when the next open-enrollment season rolls around.
"For 18 years, I have lived up to my promise of paying for my own health care until Congress passed health-care coverage for everybody," Brown said. "The next open season, Connie and I will, in all likelihood, enroll in a federal plan. She and I were hoping we could be in the public option, and maybe someday we will."
