How insulting is this to poor people everywhere?
What is something like an IPHONE? It is a weapon to protect yourself from harm or death. All someone needs to do is to hold an Iphone up to their ear and often people will not shoot or attack them because they could be found out. So, an Iphone is better than any healthcare you might vote on in the first place. How rude!
An Iphone in this sense is much more useful than a gun or knife in protecting poor people everywhere.
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Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is proposing a quick fix for low-income Americans unable to afford …
Jason Chaffetz: Poor People Shouldn’t Buy iPhones If They Need Money For Health Care
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee says millions of Americans who might lose health insurance need to “make a choice.”
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Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is proposing a quick fix for low-income Americans unable to afford coverage under President Donald Trump’s newly proposed health care law: Don’t buy an iPhone.
The American Health Care Act, unveiled by House Republican leaders Monday, offers less financial assistance to low-income people than former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, so it would likely result in millions of Americans losing the health coverage they have today.
But the Republican chairman
of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday that
Americans who might struggle to afford insurance under the GOP plan
simply need to make the choice to “invest in health care.”
“Americans have choices, and they’ve got to make a choice,” Chaffetz said Tuesday on CNN. “So rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care. They’ve got to make those decisions themselves.”
Having to choose between a
smartphone and health care coverage is a scenario Chaffetz likely can’t
relate to. With a net worth of at least $320,000 in 2014,
he makes less than many of his colleagues in Congress and was only the
301st wealthiest lawmaker based on financial disclosures that year. But
he still lives well above the median income in America (about $56,500 in 2015) and enjoys comprehensive health care benefits afforded to members of Congress.
CNN host Alisyn Camerota
asked Chaffetz if Americans might have more health care access but less
coverage under Trump’s new health care bill.
“Well, yes. I think that’s fair,” Chaffetz said. “We just saw the bill as of yesterday. We’re just starting to consume it. We will have to look at how that analysis moves forward.”
Chaffetz later attempted to clarify his comments on Fox News.
“What we’re trying to say —
and maybe I didn’t say it as smoothly as I possibly could — but people
need to make a conscious choice, and I believe in self-reliance,” he
said. “They’re going to have to make those decisions.”
“We want them to have their communication equipment too, but it’s frustrating,” he added.
As millions of low-income
Americans struggle to keep their health insurance, wealthy people and
corporations would enjoy massive tax cuts under the new law. The AHCA
would also scrap protections for more vulnerable Americans by raising
premiums for older people and rolling back the expansion of Medicaid,
which provides health care for families and individuals with limited
economic resources.
On Monday, a handful of
Republican senators wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.) warning they couldn’t support legislation that would
cut federal money for Medicaid expansion.
Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio),
Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Lisa Murkowski
(Alaska) ― all from states that have expanded Medicaid ― wrote that the
new health care legislation “does not provide stability and certainty
for individuals and families in Medicaid expansion programs or the
necessary flexibility for states.”
The legislation is split
into two complementary bills, which the House Ways and Means Committee
and House Energy and Commerce Committee will begin reviewing Wednesday.
This post has been updated with Chaffetz’s follow-up comments on Fox News. Marina Fang contributed reporting.
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