I'm so tired of the fallacy that congress has some kind of gold-plated plan. They have the same benefit package choices, at the same cost, that are available to all federal employees. Those plans cost the employee money and have cost sharing. Compared to the plans at large private sector companies, they are pretty average. Good protection, but not gold-plated. I work for a state government. My coverage is better and my costs are lower than those of the federal plans. However, I'm also covered by my husband's private sector plan. His plan pays most of my costs, because the cost sharing is much lower, as is the premium cost to the employee.

I think most of the country would be really pleased with good protection, but not gold-plated.