Having run out of cancer patients willing to lie about how Obamacare took away their treatments, the New York Post has found a young man claiming that Obamacare refused to give him subsidized insurance when he couldn’t afford to pay the full premium. Except …
So there I was: A struggling grad student with no health insurance, and unable to afford unsubsidized ObamaCare plans I’d hardly, if ever, use.
But Uncle Sam was there on his white horse, ready to save my day with . . . Medicaid?
Yes, folks, his state (Illinois, I believe) was ready to sign him up for Medicaid, but because he is eligible for Medicaid he can’t buy other insurance on the exchanges. And apparently he is too special to accept Medicaid. Which I am on myself right now, btw, at the state of New York’s insistence. I got two prescriptions filled last week for just a $1 copay. Works for me.
But let us return to this unfortunate young man, who feels it is beneath him to accept Medicaid, but doesn’t want to pay for the other alternatives available to him.
Reading on, we learn that Precious was 26 years old and in graduate school when he learned the group plan he was on as a student was being discontinued for some bullshit reason, probably because the school administration realized it could save itself some money by dumping the insurance plan and blaming the ACA. But Precious is too special to accept Medicaid, because it would give him cooties, and private plans are more expensive than group plans, and he is being ripped off because he is young and healthy and has to pay more because he’s being dumped into the same risk pool as old, sick people.
Precious then claims his only option was to take short-term insurance which he realizes is a ripoff, but Obamacare gave him no choice. Well, except for Medicaid, but that’s not really an option for someone as special and precious as he is.
My experience perfectly highlights the insanity of the Affordable Care Act. It forced me — a paying, insured, well-educated, healthy American — out of the coverage I’d had, then tried to push me into Medicaid.
The program wouldn’t let me pay more when I offered to pay a higher rate to stay out of Medicaid, and it provided only one other option: paying the highest rate available for insurance I didn’t use once in 2014.
Which means he wouldn’t have used Medicaid, either, so he wouldn’t have gotten cooties after all.
Rather than take the easy route and enroll in Medicaid, I paid my own way with a private plan of my choosing. Now, instead of being rewarded for saving taxpayer money, I’m being punished with a fine of at least $95. What a country!
The punch line is the author’s bio at the end of the article: “Justin Haskins is a writer and editor for The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based free-market think tank.” I bet he’s read Atlas Shrugged three times.
I’m on Medicaid, too.
And my copays are also usually $1.
This imbecile is going to graduate school?
Let me guess…
Hmm…
At, what? Maybe a Christian College/University?
I bet he’s majoring in Jesus, and double minoring in irrational idiocy and bigotry.
Well, you special little snowflake for whom Medicaid is too minority-centric (which, btw, it ain’t!, you “MORAN!!!), I hope you don’t get in a serious car accident or have a nasty fall, or you might find out how much your precious independently acquired expensive Randian health care police WON’T cover!
“Idiocracy” wasn’t a work of fiction.
It was a documentary set in the future.
And, we are now in that future.
Oy, the feckin’ eedjiocy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, it’s not clear why this guy is complaining, since Obamacare covers cootie shots. At least, the first drafts did; maybe that was removed from the final bill as a concession to the religious right.
and it provided only one other option: paying the highest rate available for insurance I didn’t use once in 2014.
Yeah, insurance is funny like that! I’ve been paying for automobile insurance and homeowners insurance for over 40 years and I never got to use them even once. Wow, speak about rip-offs. It’s just not fair!
In about 30 states, Medicaid is not even a option because the GOP thugs running the state aren’t smart enough to accept FREE money from Uncle Sam, even though healthcare providers are begging them to do take it. I know Medicaid is a Federal program, administered through the states, and I know the SCOTUS made a very dubious decision that the 10th Amendment allows “states” to ignore the wishes of people living in said states, but what I can’t grok is why citizens don’t file a class action lawsuit to demand their governments accept medicaid dollars. What said politicians are doing is cheating their residents out of benefits they are due.
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I don’t think you can call it a think tank when they don’t bother thinking.
Did he explain why he had to pay the penalty for not having insurance when he admits he paid for insurance?
Just asking…
Rather than take the easy route and enroll in Medicaid, I paid my own way with a private plan of my choosing. Now, instead of being rewarded for saving taxpayer money, I’m being punished with a fine of at least $95. What a country!
I think he got a sub-minimal plan, but he is not clear.
Dan — Yeah, he says he knew that the insurance he got didn’t meet the ACA standard. I notice he wasn’t at all squeamish about taking taxpayer money to subsidize a private plan so he could afford it.
Dan,
He got a sub-minimal plan because he’s sub-mental.
Bonus points for JDM.
Now that’s thinking! 🙂
“Dear Precious: One day you, too, will be a grown-up, and you will pay taxes like the rest of us. One of the things your taxes will pay for is Medicaid. Then you can stop feeling all icky about receiving benefits under Medicaid. In the meantime, you can curl up under your favorite blankie with a nice hot-water bottle, and listen to whatever emo band assuages your delicate feelings. Sorry America is such a bummer for you, Champ. Take care and keep up those studies.”
Not for nothing,but I used to have a cat named Precious. A beautiful gray tabby.
Speaking of Socialism, did any Socialist snowplows clear any streets and roads near you?
Will this Obama tyranny never end?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Will this Obama tyranny never end?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I know, right? Weird how, after just a few hours, all that lovely white curb-piled snow turns… well, you know where I am going with this! It’s a post-racial conspiracy!!
Hey, all you snow-bound takers, why should I pay for your snowplows when I’m on the west coast? And don’t tell me about you paying to put out the wildfires here or digging me out after an earthquake because facts don’t apply to this question.
Apparently.
p.s., and more seriously: hope you all managed okay during the storm, and glad that a lot of places got hit less hard than feared. Been there; done that, so I know it’s not fun even if it is pretty.
Justin Haskins reminds me of an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. There was a character who was introduced to Granny and he said his name was Justin Addison..”I’m Justin Addison”. Granny replied by saying..”Gee fella, you shouldn’t feel that way.”
I’m on Medicaid, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84838260&x-yt-ts=1422327029&v=Z34xaDQ3ra4
In Washington, at least, you can buy on the exchanges during open enrollment. And the insurance companies sell the same policies directly as they sell on the exchanges – there’s no real point in failing to do so. The only thing about the exchanges (at least in Washington – again, can’t be sure of other states) is that it’s the only place to get subsidies.
So it’s possible that he could “buy” on the exchanges, and just didn’t bother to find out. Of course, they’ll all be ACA-compliant plans.
LHW — Yeah, the rule is that to get the subsidies you go through the exchanges, but you can buy insurance in all kinds of other ways and pay the full premium. His issue was that he wanted the subsidies but couldn’t have one because he was eligible for Medicaid. If your state decides you are eligible for Medicaid that’s the only option the exchanges will give you. His argument for not accepting Medicaid was that it cost taxpayer money, but so do the subsidies, so the excuse was bogus.
Read this, and smile:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/palin%e2%80%99s-speech-draws-fire-from-the-right/ar-AA8HGpj?ocid=DELLDHP
Yes, Moosewoman finally is toast even on the Right. Even her former defenders have given up trying to put lipstick on the Moose. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/28/you-betcha-i-was-wrong-about-sarah-palin.html
Even the conservatives have grown weary of Sarah “The Whore of Babblin’-on” Palin’s babblin’-on!!!
ROFLMAO!!!
They finally are starting to see that their Empress has no cloths.
And what’s showing… well, I’ll leave that to you to express.
This seems like a classic example of someone clinging to a narrative in spite of facts and events that should overwhelm its validity. When Carlos Casteneda’s “Don juan” spoke of “stopping the World,” I thought, naively, that worlds were easier to stop, that any rational, well intentioned person, would more readily reassess their models and narrative. Oh, for the days of my untutored youth.
Every “insight” about the mechanisms that move the world, society and ourselves, will eventually prove false. In the meantime, many of us apply the pattern broadly for what it’s worth. Remember the late ’70s when suddenly everything became an addiction? The addiction model gave us some insights, but, mostly, we saw a range of things as addictions because the concept of addiction was so prominent in our thinking. “If all you have in your mind is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail.”
This young man is clinging to a world view and an economic model that allows him to define himself in very charitable terms. He is young, bright, talented and deserving. Anything that contradicts that is obviously wrong. Alas, so many of us who pride ourselves on being able to think, seem so untempered by reality.
We will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid rocking the boat and rethinking, because one of the things we would have to rethink is who we are. Fortunately, most of us are subclinical in this regard. But, in our times, there is some benefit to being nearly “certifiable,” provided that you’re fairly bright. How else would explain David Brooks? According to my current way of looking at things, he doesn’t know how ridiculous he is, he is able to avoid the realization that he is selling wolf tickets. But, time and experience will soon make me reconsider.
I am reminded of the bit of southern wisdom:
“if ya don’t think too good, don’t think too much.”
The real punch line would be if he had Federal grants or loans to be a “struggling grad student”. That would really be pulling himself up by his own boot straps.
ps…bravo for the “Whore of babblin'” line. Now that’s really clever.
Sondra,
Thanks!
I crated that term for her after she flamed-out in a burst of babble when questioned on news shows and by the press.
I have gotten some criticism over the years for it.
Too misogynistic, I’ve been told.
I tell people that there are whore of all sexes, and in all walks of life. And people don’t sell themselves for sex as often as people think. More people sell themselves for money and/or power.
Besides, I do love that line!
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