Posted on 10/05/2013 7:13:13 PM PDT by lowbridge
One mystery of the government shutdown is why Republicans are so apoplectic about the Affordable Care Act, a piece of legislation that aims to make health insurance more affordable for millions of Americans.
One theory is that the Republican leadership is scared that Obamacare actually won't be as bad as they have been saying it will be — that, in fact, Americans (including Republican constituents) will quite like it.
If Americans like Obamacare, the theory goes, this will be a big blow to the Republicans' big sales pitch over the past 30 years, which is that more government is always bad. (This despite the popularity of Medicare, Social Security, and other programs that even many Republicans support.) And this, in turn, the theory goes, will be a big blow to the Republican Party.
Well, it seems at least one Republican is pleasantly surprised by the reality of Obamacare.
Sy Mukherjee of ThinkProgress caught up with Butch Matthews, a 61-year-old former small business owner from Little Rock, Arkansas. Matthews, a diehard Republican, was skeptical of Obamacare. But the new law has already allowed him to buy insurance that is both much better, and much cheaper, than the astronomically expensive pre-Obamacare plan he was clinging to from Blue Cross Blue Shield.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I’ve been told by a very reliable source that it’s not uncommon for other people write these bills for our Congressman and Senators. They don’t do much of anything. I get it, you can expect them to type everything but at least read it!!
Of course, I think we all figured this out by the ridiculousness of this law.
If they don’t do something about this there is going to be so many people that are going to owe money to the IRS.
Exactly - so far, he's thrilled because they took his money. Will be nice to know how he feels once he realizes that they took his money...
I haven’t seen any other source for “Butch” except “think Prog”. All the articles go back to the “think Prog” press release for the Barrycare. I don’t think anyone has spoken to “Butch”, “harland” or whatever his real name is.
A staunch Republican who doesn’t mind sucking on the government teat?
“Hey this is free from the government?- I’ll take it!”
Nice attitude
I know someone with a chronic, life-threatening condition who is on Medicaid via Disability. Recently, she had some terrifying symptoms. They have continued for several months. On 2-3 ER visits via ambulance, she received palliative care and was sent home. She was told that since she qualified as an *emergency*, it would be a month until she could see an MD. That appointment resulted in palliative treatment. It took another couple of months to get permission to make an appointment with a specialist. Since this would be at the nearest (50 miles) VA catering to *low income* patients and since she has experienced the care there and says they always want to do more surgery, she opted to make an appointment at the nearest Mayo affiliate (about 20 miles). She got an appointment in September, 3-4 months after the symptoms began. It was, however, just a consult, however, it was with the top 3 MDs in the specialty she needs. Last week, she finally had an endoscopy, an anomalie was discovered and she had a biopsy. Results in 2 weeks. The next test will involve a camera pill and that will be when a treatment will be decided.
So, it will be about 6 months from her first seeking care for the symptoms to getting some sort of treatment. On the plus side, she had nothing but praise for the medical staff at Mayo and the palliative care has reduced the severity of her pain and dysfunction.
This person has had this condition for about 30 years. She always works when she is able. When she has earned over the minimum mandated by Medicaid, she has always paid the overage herself. If she had developed the severe form of her illness just a few years later than she did, she would likely have had treatment to prevent it becoming as severe as it is. However, that treatment wasn’t available at that time.
Watching her over the years has been an education in what Medicaid treatment really is.
I was informed last week that zer0care has relaxed the asset requirement for Medicaid. Only earned income is taken into account.
However, I spoke with someone a few days ago who didn’t qualify for subsidized Medicaid, but was allowed to buy into the State plan a few years ago for only $150/month. That has risen to $365/month and will carry him through to age 65 in 3 years.
This person is low income, high assets. His premium is only $20 less a month than my husband’s Bridge Policy with WPS. Not sure of the benefits, copay, deductible. My husband has no copay for appointments or ER, medication capped at around the same cost as Walmart or Walgreen’s club plans and a $5500 deductible.
Max Brantly, staunch liberal Democrat, Arkansas “journalist”, Think Progress supporter “found” one Arkansas Republican who loves Obamacare...sure....
The plan he just bought on the Arkansas state exchange has a $0 premium (after the government subsidy he gets because of his low income level) and only a $750 deductible. It’s also a “Silver” plan, which has much better benefits than the vastly more expensive “Bronze” plan he ditched.
In 2002, then New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer published Merrill Lynch e-mails in which Blodget gave assessments about stocks which allegedly conflicted with what was publicly published. In 2003, he was charged with civil securities fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He agreed to a permanent ban from the securities industry and paid a $2 million fine plus a $2 million disgorgement.
American socialism won’t look like Norway or Sweden. It will look like Detroit, Birmingham and Newark
Your analysis is 100% correct. He has decent assets but low enough income so he gets 0-Care for free.
And so will tens of millions of the poor, black and minority and poor immigrants both legal and illegal....poor Hispanic immigrants too... who are able to hide assets RIGHT NOW and get various welfare programs. They will get freer Obama care too just like the guy mentioned in this article
The productive people in America will be paying up the wazoo for health insurance that will allow all the above groups to get free Obama care or nearly free
Founder Henry Blodget tells New Yorker magazine that Business Insider’s audience is larger than many established financial news outlets, but the company also lost $3 million in 2012 or almost a quarter of its revenues.
Our local news showcased a Mexican gal, speaking Spanish with the Obamacare navigator, who was all excited because she went from having no insurance to $0 because she now qualifies for expanded Medicaid. Yay!
If your state agreed to the Medicaid expansion, then they screwed you over royally for decades to come.
My state is constantly screwing us over. I live in California. ugh
The Butch Matthews you cited is a CEO of a trucking company in New Mexico. The Butch Matthews in this article lives in Arkansas and is retired from his small business.......
Ooops, ThinkProgress huh? Stopped reading right there.
5.56mm
Obamacare's winners and losers in Bay Area
I wasn't able to identify any 'winners' in the article, but I was definitely able to identify some losers. And it turns out they happened to have voted for Obama. Twice.
Coverage doesn’t begin until Jan, 2014.. Oh well, liars lie..
If they use only earned income to determine need for various programs and don’t take assets into consideration we will have wealthy people qualify for programs designed to help the poor. Majority of the cost will still be carried by the middle class. Amazing.
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