Chaffetz the biggest a$$hole today.

Thank you for saying this! Every last word of your post is the truth.

What kind of life do people lead that they think not buying an iPhone is going to make even a dent in covering medical expenses WITH OR WITHOUT health insurance coverage? I want to live in that kind of la la land, where I don't have to understand how the real world works.

Just when I think I might have recovered enough from the election to be able to begin looking for some common ground with Republicans again, one of them goes and says dumb shit like this. How can I not see them as "bad guys" when they think this way??? No understanding, no empathy, and no tolerance for anything different than the way they lead their lives.

Obviously, I'm pissed too.

Funny you mention him:



www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/181376/the-us-congress-needs-a-caring-physician

" Why you should support Kathryn Allen

As a family physician, I have spent my 30 year professional career caring for my patients and 26 years in a nurturing relationship with my husband and 3 step-children. Now it is time to care for our country. I believe that the democratic protections we have taken for granted are under threat. The very nature of honesty and integrity has been under assault. Truth is flat-lining and needs CPR. There is an objective reality out there, and, as a woman of science, I intend to protect that reality. My current representative in Congress, Jason Chaffetz, has been deaf to the concerns of his constituents and has claimed that they are “paid protestors.” "

Support away. Please try to send money or donate your time to her and others' campaigns. They likely won't change. They can be voted out, though.

But they don't - they just pay per visit and pay the penalty. It's far cheaper than paying a monthly premium.

But not for a while. It'll be Bush all over again where things look awesome on top and underneath the structures are crumbling and it takes years for the effects of stupid decisions to come to the top (hello, housing bubble). That's the thing w/breaking the government - it takes years to see the effects, and years and years more to clean it up afterward (if possible at all). In the meanwhile things look hunky-dunky and the rot festers unseen.

I am sure millions of Americans would happily turn their iphone's over for decent health care.

The analogy is stupid, and unrealistic.

The cost of an iphone, or a tattoo is a few hundred dollars, the cost of health care for me is $600 a month with a HUGE deductible, more "affordable" with the ACA then before but still a huge percentage of my take home pay.

Income shaming must stop.

Unless it didn't make its way to this final draft the Republican Plan does have an employee mandate but they aren't calling it that.

If you don't have continuous coverage, or have a gap in coverage for more than 2 months, the insurance companies can (will) put up to a 30% surcharge on your premium.

Here is a better explanation from a Vox article I was reading....

"Here’s how it works: If a worker goes straight from insurance at work to her own policy, her insurer has to charge her a standard rate — it can’t take the cost of her condition into account.

But if she had a lapse in coverage longer than 63 days — perhaps she couldn’t afford a new plan between jobs — and went to the individual market later, insurers could charge her a 30 percent premium surcharge. She would need to pay that higher premium for a full year before returning to the standard rate.

A Congressional aide clarified that this surcharge would be the same for both healthy and sick people; insurers could not use it to turn away people they expect to have significantly higher medical costs.

This might end up having unintended consequences, because only the people who really need insurance — and who have high medical costs — may want to pay the surcharge. Healthy people might be more comfortable staying out of the individual market for longer, perhaps until they get a job that offers coverage. That could drive up premiums for everybody."

That's a lot of money. For just one person?

That is about what I would have to spend for my deductible to kick in.  

I work for a small company 4 people. I am the only one who doesn't have insurance from a spouse. I am also the only single person, and the only woman... 

From the same Vox article this on about Medicaid which shows me the Republicans don't "get it" when it comes to those considered low income....

"In 2020, enrollment in the Medicaid expansion will “freeze” and states with no longer be able to sign new enrollees up for the program. Legislators expect that enrollment would slowly decline, as enrollees’ incomes change and they shift off the program."

As enrollees income changes and they shift off Medicaid.   

i wish it was true that there would be enough folks who's income increased enough that they wouldn't need Medicaid and that it would make a difference  but that is not the reality we live in.

Yes, because health care is only ~800 dollars a year. Such a simple decision to choose health care coverage over iPhones.

We need a single payer system just like every other western nation.  I would gladly pay more in taxes if I didn't have to worry about going bankrupt when someone in my family got sick.  Health care is a human right.  We (the US) pays the highest healthcare costs in the world.

Isn't this what's happening under the ACA anyways?

I can barely muster a reply as this upsets me so much. I take 16 medicines a day in order to just function and do the things he probably can do without a second thought (eating, sleeping, etc.). I would be grateful for one month where my medical care only costs the equivalent of an iPhone. He has no idea what he is talking about, and is a jerk for saying something so insensitive.

Yes.   However the Republicans boasted they would bring down premiums.  This does not do it.

For the record I think there should be stiffer penalties for those who chose not to purchase insurance.  The reality is those who don't have insurance know if they break a bone they can get medical care in the emergency room and if they can't pay for the care they won't be turned away.  And we all pay for it.

I would like to know what plan Chaffetz is on that only costs an iPhone. I'm sure everybody would love those rates!