Such A Disaster I Just Enrolled Myself And My Entire Family In It!
Back when negotiations over the Affordable Care Act were ongoing, Republicans were busying themselves trying to throw up any roadblocks that they could. One of those roadblocks proved successful, and in so doing, it actually backfired on the less than health insurance literate 'mastermind' behind the idea, Chuck Grassley. Grassley wrongfully believed his own party's anti-health care propaganda and assumed that the ACA was such a disaster that he would set a trap for Democrats pushing it, so he devised a poison pill that would force congressional staffers into the health insurance exchanges along with members of Congress. Grassley assumed that Democrats would never go for it because the ACA was so awful.
Problem.
The ACA isn't awful, which the Democrats knew, and they responded by taking Grassley's poison pill, which was actually just a placebo. For Chuck Grassley.
So now staffers and members are approaching the deadline to enroll in the ACA (or Obamacare) or pay for their own health insurance out of pocket. In other words, take the government subsidy towards their health insurance or pay for it all themselves with private insurance.
Marco Rubio has been railing against the ACA since long before he even arrived in Washington. "Repeal and replace Obamacare" is one of the most popular phrases that he spews when he's placed before a camera and his conservative puppet-masters pull the string they've installed in his back like the old talking dolls of the 50's and 60's. Even cave dwellers are familiar with his views on Americans getting the "government takeover of health care" treatment he warned would be the doom of all humanity. You're gaining access to a subsidy for affordable health care and insurance, rather than striking out on your own as required before the ACA law in the "free market" as Rubio says, must not be allowed! If you were forced into bankruptcy by astronomical private insurance because you got sick, while Rubio continued to enjoy deep discounts from his own insurance paid for by his employer (you), well, that's just how freedom works according to Marco. If you whined about the unfairness of that setup, well, you were obviously a fan of Hitler, or slavery, or preferred to let the terrorists win, or any of the other choices he and his conservative pals have come up with.
Well, you'll never guess who is going with the ACA subsidy and foregoing the "free market" health insurance option, along with most of the other repeal and replace Republicans?
"Senator Rubio spent time looking at all the options and decided to enroll through the DC exchange for coverage for him and his family," a spokeswoman told the Buzz. The deadline was today.
Rubio took the federal subsidy afforded to lawmakers and staff -- a perk some Republicans wanted to kill off.
Not only are Rubio and his Republican colleagues enrolling, but they and many of their staffers are finding out what the rest of us have known all along: When you're forced on your own to shop for private insurance, the options without the ACA requirements are very expensive, and don't cover everything you assume something called "health insurance" would cover: Medical care. It turns out the ACA is a great law after all, just as it was designed. Go figure!
So as Rubio went scurrying to shop for health plans, he opted to go with the exchanges, and the subsidies, not just for himself, but his entire family, rather than paying for all the magical options "free market insurance" serves up!
Now, does this mean he's changing his mind about doing everything in his power to make sure that everyday Americans will face more roadblocks from him and the GOP in gaining the same sweet Obamacare deal he's getting?
Don't be silly! Of course not, that would be logical! If he takes government subsidized insurance, well that's one thing. But if you do it, you're a moocher. Well, a moocher who's helping to pay for Marco Rubio's insurance, whether you have the same access to it or not....and the rest of the GOP, because everyone's enrolling! You can too. It's just that Rubio and the GOP don't want you to. Freedom, remember?
So while Rubio's website has so generously documented eleven pages of his anti-Obamacare rhetoric, press releases, and talking points stretching back to January of 2011, he is going with the option he cheered on as "unconstitutional", voted to repeal here, and here, (just two among several listed) and said violated religious freedom, is scary when combined with the IRS, small businesses, and must be killed along with Medicare. On that website you can also watch videos of him spouting the evils of Obamacare and why you shouldn't get it, and several occasions where he declared the same Obamacare he just enrolled his entire family in was a failure that he vowed to defund, which of course, will never happen. Of course, as all Republicans have, Rubio also declared the ACA websites disasters that don't work.
Yes, that feared government takeover of health care partially paid for by you, the taxpayer, turns out to be a pretty good thing for Marco Rubio, and no doubt he'll thank you for it by trying to stop you from enjoying the same thing.
Wake up and smell the hypocrisy.
(Photo/Graphics from: Marco Rubio, U.S. Senate)
