California taxpayer...
...
I'm ticked off!
I'm a 54 year old consulting engineer and make between $60,000 and
$125,000 per year, depending on how hard I work and whether or not
there are work projects out there for me. My girlfriend is 61 and
makes about $18,000 per year, working as a part-time mail clerk. For
me, making $60,000 a year, under Obama Care, the cheapest, lowest grade
policy I can buy, which also happens to impose a $5,000 deductible,
costs $482 per month. For my girlfriend, the same exact policy, same
deductible, costs $1 per month. That's right, $1 per month. I'm not
making this up. Don't believe me? Just go to
<
https://www.coveredca.com/>
https://www.coveredca.com/for California
and enter the parameters I've mentioned above and see for yourself.
By the way, my zip code is 93940. You'll need to enter that. Clearly
Obama Care is a scheme that involves putting the cost burden of
healthcare onto the middle and upper-income wage earners. But there's
a lot more to it. Stick with me. And before I make my next points,
I'd like you to think about something: I live in Monterey County, in
Central California.
We have a large land mass but just 426,000 residents - about the
population of Colorado Springs or the city of Omaha. But we do have a
large Hispanic population, including a large number of illegal aliens,
and to serve this group we have Natividad Medical Center, a massive,
Federally subsidized county medical complex that takes up an area
about one-third the size of the Chrysler Corporation automobile
assembly plant in Belvedere, Illinois (see Google Earth View).
Natividad <
http://www.natividad.com/about-us/nmc-profile>
http://www.nativid%20ad.com/about-us/nmc-profilehas state-of-the-art
operating rooms, Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging,
fully equipped, 24 hour emergency room, and much more. If you have no
insurance, if you've been in a drive-by shooting or have overdosed on
crack cocaine, this is where you go. And it's essentially free,
because almost everyone who ends up in the ER is uninsured.
Last year, 2,735 babies were born at Natividad. 32% of these were born to
out-of-wedlock teenage mothers, 93% of which were Hispanic. Less than
20% could demonstrate proof of citizenship, and
71% listed their native language as Spanish. Of these 876 births, only
40 were covered under [any kind of] private health insurance. The
taxpayers paid for the other 836. And in case you were wondering
about the entire population - all 2,735 births - less than 24%
involved insured coverage or even partial payment on behalf of the
patient to the hospital in exchange for services. Keep this in mind
as we move forward. Now consider this: If I want to upgrade my policy
to a low-deductible premium policy, such as what I had with my last
employer, my cost is $886 per month.
But my girlfriend can upgrade her policy to the very same level, for
just $4 per month. That's right, $4 per month. $48 per year for a
zero-deductible, premium healthcare policy - the kind of thing you get
when you work at IBM (except of course, IBM employees pay an average
of $170 per month out of pocket for their coverage). I mean, it's bad
enough that I will be forced to subsidize the Obama Care scheme in the
first place.
But even if I agreed with the basic scheme, which of course I do not.
I would never agree to subsidize premium policies. If I have to pay
$482 a month for a budget policy, I sure as hell do not want the guy
I'm subsidizing to get a better policy, for less than 1% of what I
have to fork out each month for a low-end policy.*
Why must I pay $482 per month for something the other guy gets for a
dollar? And why should the other guy get to buy an $886 policy for $4
a month? Think about this: I have to pay $10,632 a year for the same
thing that the other guy can get for $48. $10,000 of net income is 60
days of full time work as an engineer. $48 is something I could pay
for collecting aluminum cans and plastic bottles, one day a month.
Are you with me on this? Are you starting to get an idea what
Obama Care is really about? Obama Care is not about dealing with
inequities in the healthcare system. That's just the cover story.
The real story is that it is a massive, political power grab. Do you
think anyone who can insure himself with a premium policy for $4 a
month will vote for anyone but the political party that provides him
such a deal? Obama Care is about enabling, subsidizing, and expanding
the Left's political power base, at taxpayer expense.
Why would I vote for anyone but a Democrat if I can have babies for $4
a month? For that matter, why would I go to college or strive for a
better job or income if it means I have to pay real money for
healthcare coverage?
Heck, why study engineering when I can be a schlub for $20 K per year
and buy a new F-150 with all the money I'm saving? And think about
those $4-a-month babies - think in terms of propagation models. Think
of just how many babies will be born to irresponsible, under-educated
mothers. Will we get a new crop of brain surgeons and particle
physicists from the dollar baby club, or will we need more cops,
criminal courts and prisons? One thing you can be certain of: At $4 a
month, they'll multiply, and multiply, and multiply. And not one of
them will ever vote Republican.
Obama Care: It's all about political power. And if you carry this out
to the underlying goal, you have wealth redistribution in the name of
"FAIRNESS"!
