I am quoting an email in it's entirety.
Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois (Actually, he's from the Chicago Imperium, and we from the other end of the state don't consider that entire chunk of territory to even BE Illinois!) sent this little tale to my in-box, thinking that I would be as easily fooled as too many of the low-functionals down here.
Luckily, he was WRONG and now I can expose his little "horror story" right here.
I'm copying it entire, with only the web- and social-media- link garbage stripped out.
Note that he is soliciting other "tales" from the ill-informed (and outright liars??).
I will reply to the contents of this email, after the mandatory cheesy-poof-of-doom, below the fold:
"Mark Kirk
U.S. Senator for Illinois
Dear Friend,
8-year-old Wyatt from Creal Springs, Illinois was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes two years ago. Wyatt's dad Jeff pays over $11,000 in medical bills ever [SIC] year. Jeff would do anything for Wyatt, but because of Obamacare, Jeff will now be paying an additional $4,000 ever year--a 36% increase in yearly costs. The increased cost threatens Jeff's ability to pay for Wyatt's college education, Jeff's retirement, and many other needs.
Unfortunately, stories like these are all too common. Across Illinois, thousands of families have seen costs rise, hours cut and plans lost. After four years of Obamacare, millions are worse off than they were before. I want to hear your story, so that I can better advocate on your behalf against this disastrous law, and we can replace Obamacare with legislation that is truly affordable.
Contact me by clicking below or share #YourStory on Facebook, Twitter], Instagram or YouTube:
It is an honor to represent you in the Senate.
Very Truly Yours,
Mark Kirk
United States Senator
OFFICES:
Chicago
230 South Dearborn, Suite 3900
Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: 312-886-3506
Fax: 312-886-2117
Springfield
607 East Adams, Suite 1520
Springfield, IL 62701
Phone: 217-492-5089
Fax: 217-492-5099
Washington, DC
524 Hart Office Building
Washington DC, 20510
Phone: 202-224-2854
Fax: 202-228-4611"
How big a TALE can he tell and not have his nose over-balance him? I wonder just how long it has grown since they clicked "SEND" on this one?
And JUST HOW GULLIBLE do they think we are? Don't they know that SOME of the people aren't IDIOTS?
Now, to "Wyatt and Jeff." Frankly, at face value, if the story is true, "Jeff" is an IDIOT of the highest water. Illinois has child health insurance with sliding scale deductibles and programs JUST for juvenile diabetes. If they had a private insurance policy that left them holding an eleven-grand sack every year, well, that insurance sales-twit saw them coming!!
If he had insurance before the ACA, and it covered juvenile diabetes care with eleven grand left to pay out of pocket, it was a JUNK PLAN and they HAD to drop it when the ACA went into effect. OR amend it to have LOWER out-of-pocket expenses!
So, as far as I can see, it's not possible, unless this "Jeff" moran [SIC - You've got to LOVE this meme!] CHOSE to keep his JUNK policy and continue to pay about five thousand dollars MORE than the legal maximum for out-of-pocket expenses. This could be his choice perhaps, but that would have been HIS choice and no fault of the ACA!! So, he's either MASSIVELY STUPID, or that's lie number one.
Now, I'm a native of the area where this supposedly takes place. I KNOW this place. I can POINT to "Creal Springs." Heck, allow me my good boots and a good day for a hike and I can WALK there!
It's in the Shawnee National Wildlife / National Forest areas, and other than geese and farming (now that we've almost gotten done with strip-mining coal and destroying the land thereby), it's DIRT POOR. There are NO jobs to speak of. These is NO industry to speak of. Other than the scenery, fishing, and hunting, there is NOTHING much down here but prisons and prison-guard jobs (or prison sentences!).
The Creal Springs, Illinois area is just rife with poverty. I seriously doubt that anyone down there MAKES $11K a year! It's REALLY THAT poor. And the fat-cats from Daley-ville, AKA The Chicago Imperium, DON'T GIVE A SINGLE SOLITARY CRAP.
The high-sulfur coal they used to strip-mine out of the ground (leaving all the scars, pollution, and toxic waste and run-off) is no longer economical to burn anywhere, so the mines are almost all closed. (I think some of it is winding up as yellow smog in CHINA, actually, but don't quote me on that!)
The nasty, dirty stuff has so much sulfur in it, that you can find lumps of nearly-pure sulfur laying on the ground in places where the seam was exposed, where you can walk on what is left of the mine.
We burned local coal for heat when I was a kid. There was a coal-fired box (A "StokerMatic.") which sat in the middle of the living room, and which belched billows of yellow smoke at frequent intervals - INSIDE THE HOUSE!
You could taste the sulfur, and I mean that in all seriousness. NOT burning this stuff, for heat, for power, for fuel for ANY reason, is a good thing for the whole world!
But that's where the Big Money Corporations used to make their piles. (Mr. Peabody, anyone? Muhlenburg wasn't the ONLY county he hauled away!) And all that the imbeciles in our government can do is scream about "Bringing Back King Coal!"
Short-sighted fools. They keep harping on coal, instead of trying to move on and get OTHER industry and jobs in here. But that's another rant for another time.
Back to "Wyatt and Jeff."
Let's stipulate they actually HAVE been paying eleven grand for insulin and needles and test strips and meters and such. It's really NOT bloody likely, since the state has child health programs JUST for this sort of thing and they most of the time GIVE the insulin and the rest away, for usually a FOUR DOLLAR CO-PAY.
I called my rural health center clinic and ASKED specifically how much a juvenile diabetes patient could expect to pay out of pocket last year, and they said a couple hundred dollars a YEAR, in all, for the insulin and everything, under the state child health plans. Medicaid COVERS this stuff.
(The only thing that might mitigate this is, according to the clerk in the clinic, was if Poppa Jeff was in the $250,000 a year or higher income bracket. And at that income level, he gets NO SYMPATHY FROM ME. He can bloody PAY the whole bill for all of my marbles! So says the aulde-pharte medical retiree, care of the Illinois State University Retirement System, who is married to a teacher covered under the Illinois State Teacher Retirement System. ("Covered" IF we can get her to retirement BEFORE the butt-munches in Springfield renege even MORE on the contract they made with her over thirty years ago for retirement benefits!))
(Again, another rant, for another time.)
Now, let's assume that he is NOT a budding millionaire, and is like nearly everyone else in the Creal Springs area, or to keep it simple, let's say they're "POOR AS DIRT" like all their neighbours.
So, if he isn't a millionaire or close to it, the state of Illinois child insurance program pays for his insulin and such, as I said before.
And if he is in the middle somewhere, and had a JUNK policy, which he would have had to demand that he be allowed to keep, which -shafted- him for that eleven thousand for insulin, then under the ACA:
HIS MAXIMUM OUT-OF-POCKET OUTLAY IS NOW NOT ELEVEN THOUSAND BUT A BIT OVER SIX THOUSAND
(if I recall the law and its' provisions correctly).
Therefore he SAVES about $5000 a year over the expenses he has now, rather than having to PAY $4000 MORE!
To actually have to pay $15,000 (the original eleven plus the 'new' four) for insulin and his son's diabetes care, considering that new $6000-odd ACA cap on out-of-pocket expenses, his insurance costs would have to be
OVER NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR ABOVE THAT.
Silver Plan? Gold? SCREW THAT! It would have to be a freaking RUBIDIUM-PLATED, DIAMOND-STUDDED, PLUTONIUM PLAN DRIPPING GOLD-PRESSED LATINUM to cost that much!!
And diabetes supplies under an ACA-approved plan, Silver level (sort of like mine perhaps, which is where I got these figures, the booklet that came with my plan), would cost at MOST $50 a month for BRAND NAME non-generic, non-"plan" insulin. That's $600 a year. Same for test strips and lancets, at MOST another 12-months' supply at $50 a month. So from $11,000 we're down to $1,200 for supplies and insulin. Make it $1500 to not miss anything and make the right-wingers happier. That's still a LOT LESS than ELEVEN THOUSAND!
MY plan however has a "mail-in" prescription system, for diabetic supplies it's all-but mandatoy to use it. The total cost listed in my plan handbook for diabetes supplies (2 types of insulin, strips, lancets, a meter -- new every two years at most, syringes, alcohol wipes, and ALL) is $44 a month. $524 a year.
NOT $11,000. NOT $15,000. Not even $1500.
So, there's lie number twenty-seven-gazillion-and-six, another de-bunked ACA "Horror-Lie," and another Tea-Publican propaganda screed missing the point.
Incidentally, yes, I -did- reply to the message from the "Honorable" Kirk unit, just before I UNSUBSCRIBED from his Spam-generator. I would be willing to bet that he (No, not really him, but his staffers; I'm no fool, this fat-cat doesn't give a RIP what I or anyone other than the Koch Brothers has to say) didn't enjoy reading it.