Posted on 01/18/2014 4:03:19 AM PST by Kaslin
David Kurtz of the lefty website TPM -- to his credit -- published an email he received from a young reader living in New York City. The 32-year-old correspondent wrote that much to his chagrin as an ardent backer of the president and his unpopular healthcare law, he's unable to afford its price tag. He suggests that his personal situation exemplifies the broader problems the program will have attracting the participation of young, healthy people:
I'm a 32 year-old healthy male that wants, but can't afford, Obamacare. I think the law is a step in the right direction, it just doesn't go far enough to capture my peers in large numbers. Let me offer my situation: I earn 55,000 a year working in a restaurant, though I have a Masters Degree. I live in Brooklyn. I earn too much to qualify for assistance with healthcare, so my premium is $308/month. My apartment rent is $1400/month, student loans are just under $800/month, I pay around $200/month in credit card bills, $100 for a cell phone, and $50 for car insurance. Then we have food, movies, metro cards, etc, etc ... Run the numbers, where do I find room for another $308/month??? I've been off my parents insurance for 8 years. I've been to the doctor less than 5 times in those years, for a total cost of under $500. It's hard for me to justify spending almost $3800 a year on a bronze plan when that's more than 7 times what I've paid over the last 8 years! And even spending that much, I've still got a large deductible to cover. I know I'm not getting any younger, but man, these numbers are hard to swallow, much less get excited about!
Many TPM readers replied angrily, lecturing "TC" about his life choices, questioning his story and motives, and ordering him to suck it up and shell out the cash. A sample offering (content warning):
Never written in before, but I call bullshit on TC. He has plenty of money to afford health insurance, but doesn't think he needs insurance, and obviously doesn't care enough about making the program successful to sign up. Really it's no better than a Tea Party response - I don't need no stinking health insurance, and if something does happen I'll just go to the emergency room. With friends like that, the opponents of Obamacare won't have to do much at all.
@guypbenson @gabrielmalor All three categories of reaction overlook that their reactions don't eliminate TC and people like him. — Just Karl (@justkarl) January 16, 2014
Exactly. No amount of scolding and gnashing of teeth will change the fundamental flaws of this law. If Obamacare's prices are sufficiently expensive to chase away someone like TC, who is strongly ideologically disposed to sign up, corralling the attention and dollars of the ambivalent and/or skeptical masses will be a much heavier lift. Dollars and cents cannot be spun away. Reality has intruded on Obamacare advocates' fantasies. This challenge helps explain Obamacare's paltry youth participation rates to date (don't forget that actual enrollment numbers remain shrouded in incompetence and mystery), a phenomenon that undermines the law's financial model. Imagine how young people will react if this Obamacare pipe bursts within the next year. Krauthammer:
Krauthammer's Take: Healthcare.gov Insecurities 'a Disaster Waiting to Happen'
So it's not about health care, it's about making Barry's program successful like a good comrade would. Notice they're calling it Obamacare, not the AFFORDABLE Care Act (that isn't so affordable). $800 a month in student loans? Obviously he went to a school he could not afford in the least! Hope he had a good time!
Occasionally, for grins and giggles , I visit the DUmp to do opposition research. What TC got from his lib cohorts IS par for the course. The LiberalPretzelLogic that makes leftie DUmmies blindly, rabidly support ObamaCare (and EBT, ObamaPhones, and students RIGHTS to a Masters Degree in BasketWeavingArtistry of Germanic LGTB Artisans in Bronze Age) TURNS against those who DARE say they can’t afford ObamaCare.
Suddenly, cell phones (but poor MUST have an obamaPhone) are a UNNECESSARY; apt choices (obviously racist neighborhood choice) educational background (what IS your Masters in if you can’t find a job???) are ALL fair game for CONTEMPT when the poster says “I can’t afford ACA.”
There is STILL a portion of Koolaid drinkers who will DEFEND ObamaCare til their last high copay and deductible breath.
It’s fun to read!
When your support depends on having the other guy pay for it, it must really disappoint to find out that you are the other guy.
>>“Hand sandwiches”?
That does sound a little extreme.>>
Not at all. Sounds nice and crunchy, especially with some hot sauce.
Don’t worry, a “bipartisan compromise” will save the day.
The Democrats get: raising the debt limit to $60 trillion and printing enough money to give every woman and person of color $4000/year to buy Obamacare.
The Republicans get Obamacare Premium Savings Accounts for all others, where money accumulates tax-free until age 60, when they have to pay it all back out of their obscene 1%-er profits earned by raping women and people of color. In case the profits are not enough, their assets will be seized when they die.
“It’s the best we could do”, explained Boehner and McConnell
The purpose of ObamaCare is to compel people like him to pay inflated "insurance premiums" to subsidize the health care of other people.
Not allowed under obamacare. Those policies are deemed “substandard.”
You hit the nail square on the head
“What happened to the love and compassion for the less fortunate?”
Now the leftists are against “freeloaders”. Great, hand the freeloaders the bill for their services and leave the rest of us alone. (I think Scalia said as much in open court.) Unfortunately, leftists are not against the freeloaders. They just use such words in the moment to advance their agenda.
The leftists will say anything, at any time, even if it contradicts what they said at any previous moment in order to advance their agenda for power without regard to those whom they try to crush and destroy (intentionally or not).
Hand sandwiches
pretty sure hands are hard to find. After you eat your left hand, it’s almost impossible to prepare and eat your right one ;)
“The purpose of ObamaCare is to compel people like him to pay inflated “insurance premiums” to subsidize the health care of other people. “
Especially all these aging, leftist baby boomers who believe this country owes it to them based on the lie of a “social contract” between government and citizen... no matter the cost to this country, even if it destroys this great country and its founding principles and institutions.
The guy is the usual LIB bonehead asshat. He will never awaken. His $800/month “degree” is really paying off...$55K/year in a restaurant..in NYC. Obviously, the guy has some long-standing judgement problems.
Don’t worry. The next act is “give me health care for free and make the ‘rich’ pay for it.” Problem solved!
“But that’s only for the first year, right? IIRC it escalates pretty significantly by 2016 or 2017.”
No, I actually went with the higher number that won’t kick in for a few years. This year (actually next year at tax time) it’s only 1% or $95 whichever is higher.
I think 2.5% is the highest permitted under the statute, but who knows what that means with this group, although Obama will be gone by then.
So, it wasn’t really right to use 2.5 with the guy’s current income, but I was going for worst case. And sure, his income might be higher in a few years, but so would his insurance cost, in all likelihood.
A hand sandwich must be the kinder, gentler version of a knuckle sandwich. Are they served in a velvet glove?
Actually, it's part of their false theology that the freeloaders are simply rebelling against monopoly capital, and that, once the bosses are exterminated, today's freeloaders will become tomorrow's high achievers.
In their communist anthem (l'Internationale), they go so far as to say, "L'oisifs ira loger ailleurs" (The lazy ones will have to move out).
The entire conceptual foundation of Marxism is false. It's a shame nobody studies it anymore.
Pbama campaigned for over 2 years ahead of the 2008 election.
He constantly stated : I am going to level the playing field”.....
Welcome to the living standards of Kenya.
Obama campaigned for over 2 years ahead of the 2008 election.
He constantly stated : I am going to level the playing field”.....
Welcome to the living standards of Kenya.
Wait ‘til the offspring of Julia and PajamaBoy start popping out....OMG....
Early on, Metallica couldn’t even afford bread. The cheap meat went right in the palm and that was it - the invention of the hand sandwich.
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