Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers gave the GOP response to Obama’s State of the Union speech, and promoted a story about a purported failure of Obamacare:
Not long ago I got a letter from Bette in Spokane, who hoped the President’s health care law would save her money – but found out instead that her premiums were going up nearly $700 a month.
Are Republicans just lazy? It didn’t take very long for a reporter to track down last-nameless Bette and find out the real story. Bette’s previous health insurance was a catastrophic plan with a $10,000 deductible. Not much coverage at all. And for that she was paying $552 a month.
And the “nearly $700 a month” increase in premiums? That was for one of the plans that her insurance company offered her. Other plans they offered her were cheaper. And she could have gotten even less expensive plans if she had gone to Washington State’s healthcare website, but Better says “I wouldn’t go on that Obama website at all”.
Bottom line? Almost nothing Rodgers said is true. Bette didn’t “hope that the President’s health care law would save her money” — she refused to even consider taking advantage of it.
Why? Could her reluctance be caused by Republican lies about “Death Panels” or ads warning people that if they sign up for Obamacare then creepy Uncle Sam will sexually violate them?
And her premiums would not have gone up nearly $700 (unless she deliberately picked a high-end plan). The only thing that is true is that Congresswoman Rodgers got a letter from Bette, but did she offer to help? Hardly. Instead Rodgers used Bette to push her own agenda.
Are Republicans like Rodgers interested in helping their constituents, or are they more concerned about sabotaging Obama? Or, as Salon puts it:
Republicans aren’t sincerely distressed about the things they hear from people like Bette. People like Bette are the goal.
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Private insurance companies: New York state has special rates for health insurance for small businesses according to income. Blue Cross through the chamber of commerce raised rates so high, people were dropping coverage all over the place. The private insurance that handled the blue cross without asking the clients switched them to another policy. I did research for my dog groomer to find her “Healthy New York” for small businesses that went by her income. And she was well covered.
Going to a Private Insurance agency is like going to a “Financial Planner” who is trained to separate clients from their money.
“Going to a Private Insurance agency is like going to a ‘Financial Planner’ who is trained to separate clients from their money.”
Exactly. Because that is their job.
What if, instead, we had a governmental agency whose job it was to get citizens the best value and encourage competition? Oh. Oops. We’d call that “Socialism.”