Now that the president’s promise that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan” has been exposed as a lie, the White House and its messengers are rolling out a new line: maybe you really don’t like your existing plan as much as you think you do. Business Insider’s Josh Barro recently wrote that “there are a lot of health plans that Americans shouldn’t be able to keep,” so that cancellation notice in the mail is good news.
Yesterday, Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher sent out a similar message in response to a CBS News report on Dianne Barrette, a 56-year-old woman who claimed her plan was increasing from $54 a month to $591 a month. An increase of more than 10 times certainly seems drastic, but as Christopher notes, Barrette’s $54 policy “barely qualifies as insurance.” In fact, it’s “junk insurance,” writes Christopher, and “Dianne Barrette has no idea what her plan covers.”
“It’s entirely possible that now-healthy Dianne is ‘happy’ with this plan, but the whole idea behind the Affordable Care Act is that the rest of us are not happy having to pick up the tab if Dianne gets a disease, has an accident, or otherwise needs to go to the hospital,” writes Christopher. Odd: we thought the whole idea was to insure the uninsured, while allowing the insured to keep their plans and doctors.
PJ Media editor David Steinberg stood up for the “CBS lady.”
Wow. Elitist schmuck. RT @tommyxtopher The only reason people "like" pre-ACA plans is they know shit about them.
— David Steinberg (@realDSteinberg) October 29, 2013
Folks lied to repeatedly. Remedy? Call them fools. MT @tommyxtopher The only reason people "like" pre-ACA plans is they know shit about them
— David Steinberg (@realDSteinberg) October 29, 2013
@DavidSPJM Not being an insurance expert doesn't make you a "fool," although it does qualify you to work for network news.
— Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher (@tommyxtopher) October 29, 2013
Got your plan canceled, even though Obama said it couldn't happen? @tommyxtopher says you don't "know shit." #liberalcompassion
— David Steinberg (@realDSteinberg) October 29, 2013
@DavidSPJM That's not what he said, which kinda proves my point. You really don't know shit.
— Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher (@tommyxtopher) October 29, 2013
@tommyxtopher Explain how folks who lost coverage they were promised was safe deserve this ridicule from you.
— David Steinberg (@realDSteinberg) October 29, 2013
@DavidSPJM You're the one who said they were fools. I just said they don't know shit about their insurance. Most people don't.
— Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher (@tommyxtopher) October 29, 2013
You know who’s the country’s foremost expert on health insurance? Barack Obama.
@tommyxtopher Is she better off today, Tommy?
— David Steinberg (@realDSteinberg) October 29, 2013
@DavidSPJM Definitely. "Plan" she had was a waste of money. Did you even read it? http://t.co/RVlEwOQu1F But I hope she goes for the $210
— Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher (@tommyxtopher) October 29, 2013
The millions losing plans better off today? MT @tommyxtopher Definitely. "Plan" she had was a waste of money. Did you even read it?
— David Steinberg (@realDSteinberg) October 29, 2013
@DavidSPJM Yes. Without question.
— Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher (@tommyxtopher) October 29, 2013
Got that? If you like your plan and received a cancellation notice, you’re better off. You don’t know it yet, but you are.
@DavidSPJM Although not as well as they'd be with single payer or Medicare for all.
— Tommy X-TrumpIsARacist-opher (@tommyxtopher) October 29, 2013
That’s the next logical step, right? In the meantime, it’s time to stop worrying and love your cancellation notice. It’s for your own good.
@tommyxtopher/@jbarro 2014: Because You Don't Know Shit, Americans.
— David Steinberg (@realDSteinberg) October 29, 2013
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