This morning (10/5/13) the NBC web site featured an article by Maggie Fox describing the phenomenon of uninsured Americans who are refusing to sign up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act on principle.
http://www.nbcnews.com/...
Read on intrepid souls.
Featured was one Greg Collett of Caldwell Idaho. He says that it would be less expensive to pay the $95.00 tax for failing to be insured than to sign up for an affordable health insurance plan.
I spoke with Mr Collett this morning and I asked him what his plan might be if he suffered a heart attack tomorrow. His response was, to the effect, that he would simply have to pay the bill. This according to the article is from a man who has ten, count em ten children who's health care is covered by Idaho Medicaid that is financed by...guess who, us. How would a person who has ten children on Medicaid come up with the funds to cover a catastrophic health care event? He can't. He would either go without or stick us with the bill through increased health care costs. He can't even afford to cover the modest health care needs of his own children yet claims he would cover his own health care out of pocket??? So what's a measly extra 95 bucks to keep his tax payer funded health care for ten individuals?
Mr Collett told me that he did not think it appropriate to force a collective health care system on the populace financed by taxes. His solution is to take personal responsibility for one's own health care costs. How does that explain 10 children on medicaid? When I asked him what do you do if you don't have 50 or 100 thousand dollars in the bank to cover this sort of event, he suggested going to family members for financial help. When I explained that most people do not have family resources that might cover a $50,000.00 dollar hospital bill, his alternative was to suggest that we seek help from local churches or other charities.
So this member of The Church of Latter Day Saints has the gall to refuse to contribute to a common pool to fund all our health care yet parasitically takes thousands of dollars per year from the very tax system that he refuses to contribute to for the benefit of his own family.
Mr Collett, is running to be elected from his district in Idaho as a State Representative. According to his campaign web site
http://www.gregcollettforidaho.com/...
He graduated from a public high school and has a degree in computer science obtained from a publicly funded university. Umm...who paid for that Mr Collett?
We also have the same sort of hypocrisy in Congress. The very folks that are attempting to block access to affordable health care for their constituents, have gold plated health care of their own.
When Michelle Bachman has one of her famous Migraines, she can prance right over to the Capitol physicians office (conveniently situated between the house and senate chambers) to be diagnosed and treated. Access to that service costs members a mere $503.00/year and includes any diagnostic procedures and specialty care as necessary.
If she needs in patient care, she gets access to Ward 72 at Walter Red Hospital which reserves luxury rooms for the President, Vice President, members of Congress and the highest ranking members of the military.
In addition, all members of Congress have the same health care plans to choose from as any other Federal employee, which is quite generous compared to many private health plans
So many of those elected representatives who oppose any sort of health care reform other than you are on your own bub, have their own health care financed by those that they would deny. Did they not learn anything in kindergarten? Do they not have any shred of human decency?
These folks simply promote an ignorant, self centered approach to health care that is not sustainable.
It seems to me, that the logical approach for those that claim that Obama Care is destined for failure would be to simply stand by to wait for that to happen and for the Democratic party to collapse into the rubble. That would put them in a far better position to challenge the democrats in 2016. That they do not take that approach, suggests that their real fear is not Obama Care but that it just might succeed, leaving the damage to their own party.
To attempt to deny affordable health care to those who desperately need it for mere political gain, is simply immoral and about as self centered as one can be.