Jackson Jambalaya

The Wall Street Journal reported Congress enjoys some extra perks under Obamacare. Louis Radnofsky reports:

Lawmakers and their staff are getting personal experience with the Affordable Care Act—and it isn't always the same as their constituents'.

Members of Congress and their aides are getting coverage through the District of Columbia's small-business exchange. That fulfills a provision in the law requiring them to obtain coverage through new insurance exchanges, not the familiar federal employee benefits program, in which Congress, like many large employers, heavily subsidized their premiums.

Some users say that the exchange for lawmakers is operating much more smoothly than the troubled HealthCare.gov website that serves regular folks in 36 states.

"I submitted my application in less than 15 minutes," said Drew Hammill, communications director for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.). He said the easy process showed the benefits of states creating their own exchanges, as 14 states plus the District of Columbia did.

A Republican aide said that it was easy to create an account, but she encountered problems that blocked her from seeing options to cover her family. Later she hit a button to save her work, and found instead that she had apparently been enrolled in coverage.

The aide had one advantage over many people: A representative of the exchange was in a congressional office building at the time, and she was able to get face-to-face help, on the spot. The representative is now trying to figure out whether the staffer is really enrolled.

Mr. Hammill, who is 35 years old, saw what many younger Capitol Hill aides will see when they go on the site—falling premiums. Unlike a typical employer plan, policies on the exchange can offer somewhat lower prices to younger people. Mr. Hammill's premium for coverage went from $186 a month to just under $88, with the federal government still picking up around 75% of the costs.

But older lawmakers and staffers are facing premiums that for the first time take into account their increased health risks. A 61-year-old buying a policy for himself would pay $449 a month for the same plan as Mr. Hammill picked, because the plan has an unsubsidized premium of $875 a month and the government's 75% contribution is capped at a maximum of $426 a month.

The law's unusual treatment of Congress's own health benefits stems from 2009, when Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) secured an amendment that required members to use the exchanges alongside millions of Americans who don't have access to coverage through a large employer or government program.

As the launch date neared this year, members and staff grew concerned because Congress, like most big employers, has long offered heavily subsidized benefits to its workers. In the solution devised by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, based on a suggestion from District of Columbia exchange officials, lawmakers and staff use part of the D.C. marketplace designed for small businesses.

There, they can pick from a selection of the most-generous small group plans on sale in the District, and continue to pay only around a quarter of the premium themselves. They must pick a plan by Dec. 9.

People who went online in the first days after the site opened Nov. 11 encountered few of the problems that have plagued HealthCare.gov, where millions of users have struggled to create accounts, verify their identity and income, or load pages on the site.

A congressional staffer navigating the site with a Wall Street Journal reporter was able to quickly through each of these stages in minutes, without hiccups, before pausing to review plan options.

Some lawmakers are unhappy with the exchange's setup, arguing that lawmakers should be treated in the same way as most workers who get subsidies on the exchange only if they fall below certain income levels....

Some members have said they will decline their congressional coverage and buy insurance on their own instead, including Rep. Phil Gingrey (R., Ga.) and Sen. Mark Begich (D., Alaska). Mr. Begich, who is facing a tough re-election battle, told his Twitter followers that rather than using the District of Columbia's small-business exchange, he signed himself up through the exchange serving Alaska, which is federally run. There he can't claim an employer contribution, and he is also unlikely to qualify for any other assistance.

A spokesman for the D.C. exchange said that products offered to lawmakers were also available to other employers in the District of Columbia. "All residents and small businesses in the District of Columbia have the same broad choice and quality service offered to members of Congress and their staff," said Richard Sorian, who also acknowledged there had been some early problems. "Like any new product there are some glitches but we are working every day to make the experience better and better," he said.