Long, tough fight saves Delaware jobs

Every once in awhile that persistence and hard work of legend actually pays off. This time it was Delaware’s congressional delegation. The three members, especially Rep. John Carney, labored for more than year to persuade their fellow members of Congress to reverse a mistake. The payoff was a simple one: about 500 jobs saved in Delaware.

The threat to the jobs was an unintended consequence of the Affordable Care Act. The wording of the law created a situation that penalized insurance companies such as Cigna that provided health coverage for people working outside the United States. Cigna, which employs the unit workers in Delaware, would have subjected these policies to the extra expenses caused by the ACA.

Cigna and other insurers selling “expatriate” health insurance plans compete against foreign companies that are not subject to the ACA coverage requirements.

Delaware jobs could have been lost. The same thing was true for other “expatriate” insurance employees in California, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Normally, when something like this occurs, the first thing that has to be established is whether it was the “intention of Congress” to impose those restrictions on the affected individuals. That one is simple. Congress did not intend to export the jobs of people who sell insurance to customers outside the United States.

However, this is Obamacare we are dealing with. The diplomatic problem facing Tom Carper and Chris Coons in the Senate, where currently there is a Democratic majority, and Mr. Carney, in a Republican stronghold, was to persuade Congress to open a small portion of the ACA, fix what was wrong and then close it back up without rewriting the whole bill.

Mr. Carney’s battle was the hardest. The Democrat had to talk the Republican majority into avoiding a showdown and merely exempt the “expatriate” insurers.

It was not easy. Mr. Carney had to extend his hand across the aisle and keep it there while he somehow managed to get Republicans and Democrats in line until a vote finally came.

In addition, the Delaware trio had to get this done in a spending bill and not a revenue bill, a highly unusual act. However, ways were found to offset the costs of the change and eventually the votes lined up.

Of the effort, Rep. Carney told a reporter, “It was worth it to protect Delawareans whose jobs never should have been at risk in the first place.”

Congratulations to all three members. And congratulations as well to the Cigna employees. The company deserves credit for sticking with Delaware and the United States. It would have been simpler and eventually cheaper to move the jobs abroad. Now, it is possible that the business will grow and more workers will be hired.

Persistence paid off.