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Obamacare Schadenfreude

by Rush Limbaugh - Mar 27,2013

RUSH: From TheHill.com: “Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Tuesday that millions of workers’ dependents…” Now, that’s communist language. Translation: “Many of the children of families, many children of people that have jobs, millions of children “would still be left without options for affordable family health insurance under [Obamacare]. ‘Without action, millions of hard working Americans are going to be squeezed by the family glitch,’ Wyden said.

“‘Many people will be left with a false choice of taking family coverage through work they canÂ’t afford or struggling to find a better plan in the exchange without a subsidy.’ Wyden said that there is a ‘family glitch’ because workers will be ineligible for federal tax credits to help them buy into the health insurance exchanges starting in 2014, unless the cost of their individual employer-based health coverage premium exceeds 9.5% of a worker’s household income.” Do you want me to run that by you again?

We are talking here about health insurance, health coverage in the United States of America coming your way thanks to Obamacare. There is an upcoming “family glitch.” Wait ’til you have to deal with the bureaucrat at the exchange trying to wade his or her way through this. This is a nightmare waiting to happen. The “family glitch” exists because employees will be ineligible for federal tax credits to help them buy into the health insurance exchanges.

Now, a lot of people ask, “What do you mean tax credit to help me buy into the exchange? I thought my premium was going to come down 2,500 bucks! What is this ‘exchange’ anyway? What do you mean ‘exchange’?” Do you realize how many people don’t know what a federal tax credit is? Do you realize when people hear the word “subsidy,” they have no clue what somebody’s talking about? Well, I take that back. That they might know.

A subsidy is somebody else paying for it, so they might know that.

But what a bunch of gobbledygook just to be able to go to the doctor.

There’s a “family glitch” because employees will be ineligible for federal tax credits to help them buy into health insurance exchanges starting next year unless the cost of their individual employer based health coverage premium exceeds 9.5%. “I just want to go to the doctor! What is all this?” “Well, you can’t. There’s a family glitch. There’s a 9.5% subsidy, federal tax credit at the exchange, and if your employer based health premium exceeds 9.5% of your household income…”

“I don’t know what my household income is.”

“Well, then you’re out of luck. Just go die and we’ll move on to the next person in line.”

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay, folks, this health care business. We’re talking about schadenfreude. You know what schadenfreude is. That is loving, that is enjoying the discomfort of others, in a certain set of circumstances. That’s enjoying when people get theirs. Like when people who are dead wrong about something but don’t know it, find out that they’re dead wrong and they suffer from it? Schadenfreude is enjoying that.

Well, there are some people that are hoping to experience schadenfreude over health care realizations down the road. Now, keep in mind about that that a clear majority of people don’t want Obamacare. It’s not as though they did. You know, the majority in this country didn’t want it. It was forced on us. We are being ruled and governed against. The will of the people is being governed against by this regime.

We’ve got Obamacare now, but there are some people who facilitated this thing being passed — average citizens — who have no clue what’s headed their way. They are the people who think it isn’t going to cost them anything, and they are in for a rude awakening. There are three stories about this today. Another observation about this: All of this was known during the debate on health care. All of it was known. It could have been reported before the vote.

Now, some people might say, “Rush, that bill was pretty extensive. It could well be that this stuff wasn’t known before.” No, no, no. None of this is a surprise to me. I knew all this before the vote and therefore you did, too, those of you who are regular listeners. The media chose not to report these things. Now, for some reason, they are. I don’t even care why they’re reporting it now. That’s not of any interest to me what their motivations are. But the fact is this stuff is being reported.

I want to go through these three things because they are fascinating. The first, just to repeat this, is from TheHill.com. This is Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat. He’s very worried because he has discovered what is being called “the family glitch.” The headline of the story at TheHill.com says that it “leaves dependents without coverage.” Well, we have to remember we are in a low-information universe. People may not know what a “dependent” is. Don’t smirk at that. Well, you might think that they would know it, but some of them will not.

The headline should say, “Health Care’s Family Glitch Leaves Children Without Coverage,” and if it were a Republican law and if it were a Republican plan, that’s what the headline would say. But instead it says “dependents.” A dependent is somebody in a family who doesn’t earn anything; they are therefore totally dependent on the breadwinner. Ron Wyden had an announcement yesterday in which he said, “Without action, millions of hard working Americans are going to be squeezed by the family glitch.

“Many people will be left with a false choice of taking family coverage through work they can’t afford or struggling to find a better plan in the exchange without a subsidy.” Now, all anybody wants to do is go to the doctor. That’s all anybody wants to do! You get sick, something’s wrong, so you want to go to the doctor. You don’t want to go to an exchange. You don’t want to have to worry about subsidies. You don’t have to worry about 9.5% of your family income.

These people don’t know what’s coming their way and Ron Wyden is worried because politically the impact here on the Democrats could be bad. Now listen to this. “Wyden said that there is a ‘family glitch’ because [employees] will be ineligible for federal tax credits to help them buy into the health insurance exchanges starting in 2014…” Now, what that means is it’s going to cost so much that people aren’t going to be able to afford it on their own. So they’re going to have to get federal tax credits.

Now, I will guarantee you that the average low-information voter doesn’t have slightest clue what a tax credit is versus a tax deduction versus a subsidy. Now, they are going to be ineligible for the federal tax credits to help them buy into the exchange. Don’t forget they have to buy it in the exchange or pay a fine. They will be eligible for the federal tax credits to help them buy into the exchanges if the cost of their individual employer-based health coverage premium exceeds 9.5% of their household income.

Well, can you imagine somebody showing up at the exchange window and being told this? They have to do this before they go to the doctor. By the way, I had something in the Stack yesterday. I didn’t get to it because of our prolonged discussion on the Supreme Court oral arguments on homosexual marriage. But in the form that you have to fill out now to apply for health coverage/insurance or whatever, there is a section on registering to vote.

It is worded in such a way that you might think you have to register to vote before you can do this, before you can fill out the form and submit the form for health insurance coverage. It’s a neat little trick. It’s a disguised Democrat voter registration effort as part of health care, designed to make people think they have to register to vote before they can get health care. That’s how it’s worded — and, of course, the registration obviously is targeted/aimed at registering for Democrats.

So they’ve got to do that first. Then they show up to the window at the exchange. All they want to do is go to the doctor, but they’ve got to go do this before they can do that. “Wyden said that glitch ignores the fact that family coverage is much more expensive than individual coverage, and could leave some middle-class workers in a tough spot.” I just can’t believe going to the doctor has become this in America.

From the article:

“The Obama administration acknowledged Tuesday that some people could see their premiums rise under the healthcare reform law. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters that ‘there may be a higher cost associated with getting into that market’ where ‘folks will be moving into a really fully insured product for the first time.’ The comment was among the first from the [regime] to reveal a degree of uncertainty about the impact of the law on insurance premiums.”

So now even the administration is admitting that they don’t know what the impact of their own law is going to be on health insurance premiums — and it’s 2700 pages! When John Q and Suzy Low-Information head to the exchange window to have all this sorted out, all they want to do is go to the doctor.

“Little Hope Seen for Millions Priced out of Health Overhaul” by Obamacare. “Millions of Americans will be priced out of health insurance under President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul because of a glitch in the law that adversely affects people with modest incomes who cannot afford family coverage offered by their employers…” Well, now wait. I thought family coverage was cheaper than individual coverage.

I know it’s insuring more people, but it’s group coverage versus individual. But no! Family coverage is going to cost more, and there’s a glitch here that’s going to “adversely affect people with modest incomes who can’t afford coverage.” Now, isn’t the purpose of the law to provide coverage to people with modest incomes or those who can’t afford it? I guarantee you the low-information, modest-income crowd thinks their health insurance is going to be provided for them.

They are not going to believe, nor are they going to understand that they can’t afford it. They can’t afford it now. They think the purpose of the law was to make it so that they are either going to be given it or it’s going to become cheaper. Now they’re being told by Reuters that “a glitch” — a glitch — is going to make health insurance more expensive for “modest-income people,” the poor.

By the way, Warren Buffett and his secretary aren’t going to have to mess with any of this. Just FYI. Now from the AP: “Medical claims costs, the biggest driver of health insurance premiums, will jump…” What is a “medical claims cost”? Let’s put ourselves in the average kitchen here of a… Well, do low-information people read papers in the kitchen? Let’s just pretend that they do. Put them in the kitchen and ask the average low-information voter in America, “What’s a medical claims cost?”

Do they have any idea what that is?

Say I were to ask you, Mr. Snerdley, official program observer, “What are medical claims costs?” (interruption) Okay, the cost the insurance companies incur to pay for your claim or your coverage. It’s not just a processing fee. It’s actually the nut too. I mean, you’re sick and you want to go to the doctor but your insurance is going to pay for it. That is the same thing as you wrecking your car and calling the insurance company to pay to get it fixed. Except what’s broken is you, not the car.

So you’re going to have to have an insurance claim on you, and that costs the insurance company money when you make a claim. You know how they cancel you if your kid wrecks the car? Well, this is you wrecking yourself by going to the doctor. They have to pay your claim; they don’t like that. So the costs of the insurance company paying for your treatment is essentially what this is. The costs of the insurance company paying for your doctor visit, which is the biggest driver of health insurance premiums, is going to go up 32% for Americans’ individual policies under the Obamacare law.

So the translation here: Every time you go to the doctor and make a claim on your insurance, i.e., you wreck yourself and they pay the doctor to fix you, the cost is going to go up 32%. Bye bye your premium going down 2,500 bucks. “While some states will see medical claims costs per person decline, the report prepared by the Society of Actuaries concluded that the overwhelming majority will see double-digit increases in their individual health insurance market.


“At a briefing at the White House Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said talk about rates is ‘speculative’ at this point, though she acknowledged that some people will see their costs go up. For example, she said, in the past, women typically had to pay more for insurance simply because they were women.”
Well, they’ve fixed that now. Men’s costs will go up, too. Not women’s costs will come down, because nothing ever comes down. Since women’s costs are higher, it’s unfair. So men’s costs will go up and that’s how everything will be made equal.

And so you see, ladies and gentlemen, that’s three stories just today on healthcare, and they’re coming out every day. Every day there are these stories now from Drive By mainstream media sources. “By 2017,” four years from now, “the estimated increase would be 62% for California, about 80% for Ohio, more than 20% for Florida and 67% for Maryland.” Every one of those states voted to reelect Obama. This information was known before the election. Every one of those states voted for Obama.

If you would have told people I don’t know about California, but 80% cost increase on medical costs and premiums in Ohio, you think that would not have been a factor? Twenty percent in Florida, 67% Maryland? Every one of those states voted for Obama, reelect Obama. Now, the study didn’t come out until after the election, but this stuff was known then. It just didn’t get reported.


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