Democratic congressman Joe Cunningham's wife is furious that their taxpayer-subsidized healthcare plan declined to pay for therapy sessions, according to a rant on an insurance bill she posted on Instagram.
The South Carolina Democrat is currently serving his first term in Congress, where members are given access to Obamacare "gold" plans from Blue Cross Blue Shield and are responsible for paying about a quarter of the premiums. The plan is apparently not good enough for his wife, Amanda Cunningham, who told her Instagram followers she would be urging her husband to do something about it.
"I'm gonna have a little bit of a rant here on social media because I think this is important," she said on her Instagram story last week. "I've been going over my not-a-bill bill here from Blue Cross Blue Shield, and realizing that once again, all of my mental health therapy sessions are denied, in addition to all of our marriage counseling sessions."
"It's just mind-blowing to me that these basic well-known needs, that mental health is health care, are still being denied, that we're still fighting for these absolutely basic things, it's unbelievable to me," she said. "So I'm reaching out to my congressman—yes, also my husband—but saying, like, hey, what can we do about this? Let's go to the House floor, let's write a bill, I don't know what you do, but let's do it because this is ridiculous."
"This affects us, our family, it affects everyone else who's seeking mental health and needs support doing so," she concluded. "I'm just flabbergasted."
Cunningham's office did not respond to an inquiry into whether he agrees with his wife's assessment of the plan, but he wouldn't be the first freshman member dissatisfied with the Obamacare plan they're given.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that Rep. Cindy Axne (D., Iowa) complained to a group of constituents that she doesn't get "good insurance."
"You really don’t want what I have, because I don’t get good insurance," Axne said. "It's okay insurance. Just so you know, congresspeople, we have to purchase from the ACA [Affordable Care Act], we purchase from the network."
Amanda Cunningham, a licensed yoga instructor, sold her ownership stake in a South Carolina yoga studio earlier this year, according to a profile of her in Charleston's Post and Courier. She now works part-time as development director for a nonprofit helping vulnerable women.
The couple met as crew-members on a luxury yacht, according to the profile.