Republican who opted out of Obamacare changes his mind now that he's going blind

Sad, maddening and frustrating:

Who should save the sight of an uninsured South Carolina man who can’t afford eye surgery? That’s the question the Charlotte Observer asks in a story about a 49-year-old Republican who declined to sign up for Obamacare because he “prided himself on paying his own medical bills,” and is now upset that the Affordable Care Act won’t bail him out.

Luis Lang, a self-employed handyman from Fort Mill whose clients include the federal government, told the Observer he “knew the act required him to get coverage but he chose not to do so. But he thought help would be available in an emergency,” like the mini-strokes and deteriorating vision he suffered in February.

It’s not available though, because that’s not how insurance works. Insurance companies are profitable because they take your money before you incur major medical expenses, not because they save new customers’ eyes for free. It’s almost like the needs of the market aren’t aligned with the needs of actual human beings, as if the American healthcare system encourages people to gamble that they’ll stay healthy instead of getting insurance and forces society to bear the costs when the house wins (which is always).

If only there were some way to make people get insurance, and maybe even help them pay for it to save all of us money in the long run.

Nahhh, that’s crazy.

It should be remembered that Obamacare was only passed over the howls and violence of Republicans in the first place.

http://gawker.com/man-who-would-rather-go-blind-than-get-obamacare-now-go-1704019495

His argument wasn't with Obamacare, but with insurance of any kind.  This is the kind of damage that Republican lies cause; because he was warned off of Obamacare, he was effectively warned off of any kind of insurance.

Republicans are responsible for telling lies.  People think (because of Republican lies) that Obamacare is funded by the government.  It isn't.  It is a market-based program, rather than a tax-based program.  The government puts controls on the market (like the prohibition of pre-existing condition exclusions), but leaves the system of providing insurance up to the market.  Republicans spread the lie that Obamacare is like the NHS...a straight, single payer program.  Then poor suckers like this guy swallow the bait, and are left holding the bag at times like this.  

It's too late for him.  Say good-bye to his eyesight.  Now watch: Republicans will turn this around and say Obamacare doesn't work because the system failed this guy.  Yet if they hadn't fed him lies, he would have known that by not signing up for insurance he was at serious risk.

If I were to misinform a client about the law like this, I could be sued for malpractice.  But top Republican politicians can tell deliberate lies and not be sued.  Crazy world.

I just read about this on RAW and he blames the ACA, funny how when it`s personal they change there minds PDQ but still find a way to blame the president, i am sure Fat boy Fat, Sean hated and Bill (i was in a war zone) o`liar will be blaming it on the poor and fatherless black families and obama i expect bengazi to be in there some how as well

I'd like to comment about this, but I simply don't understand what Obamacare is. Is it an insurance scheme or an Act?

Raggamuffin wrote:I'd like to comment about this, but I simply don't understand what Obamacare is. Is it an insurance scheme or an Act?

ObamaCare’s goal is to give more Americans access to affordable, quality health insurance and to reduce the growth in U.S. health care spending.

• The Affordable Care Act expands the affordability, quality, and availability of private and public health insurance through consumer protections, regulations, subsidies, taxes, insurance exchanges, and other reforms.

Thanks Korban. Had a look at the start of the video - so far, so good. I'll pay more attention a bit later.

Raggamuffin wrote:Thanks Korban. Had a look at the start of the video - so far, so good. I'll pay more attention a bit later.

your welcome but the lies the republicans tell about it and the 56 failed attempts to get it repealed are more interesting and goes to show the length idiots will go too

The only legitimate gripe about Obamacare, as I can see it, is that it requires by law that Americans carry health insurance, mostly through private companies. It's not ideal by any stretch, but it's the very most right-wing thing Obama could have done to improve the health care situation in the U.S. and it still didn't get a single Republican 'yea' vote in Congress.

In 2013, 18 percent of all Americans (57.6 million) had no access to anything but emergency health care (which they still were required to pay for) unless they paid the entire cost themselves. Let's say you needed to have your appendix removed; that costs about $55,000. For perspective, the average American earns about $5,000 less than that in a year. Health care was the number-one cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S.

Now, the uninsured rate is down to 11.9 percent (38.4 million). That's still a hell of a lot of people, but remember that a lot of those people are like the man in the OP.

Compounding this, the Republican Party has tried to make Americans fear the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in truly amazing ways, ranging from the idea that government officials would decide to let elderly people die because of costs (the "death panels" rumor touted by Sarah Palin) to even more laughable ideas, such as the one that Obama would make sure Republicans got poor health care once he had all their information in his big Obamacare database or whatever.

In fact, every scary Republican prediction about Obamacare has turned out to be completely wrong: http://www.politicususa.com/2015/05/07/independent-study-finds-republican-prediction-obamacare-wrong.html

But don't worry, the Tories are nothing like the Republicans ... http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/11/young-republicans-conservatives-tories-uk-election

Watch at least the first minute or so of this report. This is what happened all the time in the U.S. and probably still happens far too often:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeGFIL4BD_M

that actually raises multiple things about how shit the USA is
not only the hospital system but also SKID ROW
why is that allowed to exist?

Stupid Whinging Pommies.....
Think your self Lucky! you could live in the USA
Land of Greed and home of the Slave

veya_victaous wrote:that actually raises multiple things about how shit the USA is
not only the hospital system but also SKID ROW
why is that allowed to exist?

Stupid Whinging Pommies.....
Think your self Lucky! you could live in the USA
Land of Greed and home of the Slave

Skid row is allowed to exist because those people belong there, of course ...

Interesting piece I found from last month:

UKIP leader Nigel Farage is expected to get a celebrity reception in Washington when he addresses America's most high-profile right-wing conference this week.

Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Jeb Bush and the National Rifle Association (NRA) gun lobby will be sharing a stage with the British politician after he was invited to address the Conservative Political Action Committee in the US capital.

Aides told Sky News his philosophy has much in common with his Republican hosts, who also focus on "the battle for smaller government and lower taxes and how an insurgent party can become bigger".

That will go down a storm with much of his audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which appeals to the right wing of the Republican party.

Tea party activists claim to have been fighting the same battle in the US.

http://news.sky.com/story/1434350/farage-to-get-heros-welcome-from-us-group

The Affordable Care Act was actually drafted by the Heritage Foundation, a right wing think tank (a contradiction in terms). It was first enacted in Massachusetts, by a RW governor.

It was adopted as the template by a Democratic Congress, primarily because they felt it would be good to start with a compromise foundation. That is why it is market-based, but mandatory.

But the Act would be rejected by Republicans if it was drafted by the devil in a banker's tux. It is everything that Republicans want, but it was proposed by a black president. Republicans hate blacks more than life itself, and they detest the fact that Obamacare is so popular.

Republicans are angry old, white, males. In 15-years they will all be dead and the Republican Party will have sailed into oblivion. On the other side, the same party has been in existence since 1791: the Federalists, to the Democrat-Republicans, to the Democrats, without missing a beat.

The Republicans have only been in existence since 1854, and in 1964 they switched fundamental sides, going from anti-racist to racist with their Southern Strategy. Race is the most fundamental issue in American life. It was the only issue causing the Civil War, the greatest war in American life. But the up-and-coming generations seems to want to put race behind them. Caught once again with the losers, I expect the Republicans to fade rather quickly.