{"id":224534,"date":"2017-03-07T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=224534"},"modified":"2017-03-10T16:40:27","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T21:40:27","slug":"in-defense-of-jason-chaffetz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/03\/07\/in-defense-of-jason-chaffetz\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of Jason Chaffetz"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Jason Chaffetz stepped into it yesterday, and I\u2019m gonna defend him. I know exactly what he was talking about. He may not know what he was talking about, but I do.<\/p>\n

Did you hear what he said? (interruption) He said (paraphrased), “It\u2019s about time people decide, you know, what\u2019s more important to you. Do you want to go out and spend all that money on a new iPhone, or do you want health insurance?” And of course the predictable reaction, “Republican heartless SOB! He\u2019s just hates people.” And, of course, that\u2019s not Jason Chaffetz at all. It turns out that there is recently released economic data from massive surveys that is stunning.<\/p>\n

It is that over half of the people in this country could not write a $500 check if they had to. They don\u2019t have it. They would have to put it on a credit card. The same survey says that the vast majority of people would just as soon spend that money on an iPhone as on health care. So he was exactly right. But since nobody knows the survey, they think he\u2019s a typical mean-spirited Republican reprobate, and he\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Jason Chaffetz. I found this story everywhere in my little tech blogs, because it mentions an iPhone.<\/p>\n

Headline: “Top Republican Says Poor People Should Stop Buying iPhones, Buy Health Insurance Instead<\/a>.” You ought to read the comments. Every little Millennial nerd tech person thinks that Jason Chaffetz is the devil \u2019cause he\u2019s the Republican, because don\u2019t you know the phone company ought to pay for your phone and insurance and the government ought to pay for your health care. The idea that you should have to pay for it? These people don\u2019t even want to pay for cable TV. They hate Comcast.<\/p>\n

They despise Verizon. You would not believe! It\u2019s been humorously educational for me. But here\u2019s the story: “Yesterday the Republican Party finally unveiled its new plan to replace Obamacare, and nobody knows how much it\u2019ll cost or how many people will lose coverage under it. One thing we know, Jason Chaffetz is a turd.” That\u2019s what it says right there. On a tech blog. “Chaffetz told CNN\u2019s Alisyn Camerota…” Did you know she has a novel out about a cable news infobabe that has trouble with a private life while working in the news business?<\/p>\n

Hee-hee-hee. Obviously a chick novel waiting for the TV and movie rights to pour in. Anyway, “Chaffetz told CNN This Morning that Americans might have to decide between their smartphone and having health insurance. You see, the Republicans have spent the past seven years saying they want to scrap the Affordable Care Act…” Of course, there\u2019s nothing affordable about Obamacare — and these Millennials, they know that Obama lies, but they don\u2019t care. You know why?<\/p>\n

Because Obama\u2019s for gay marriage, and Obama\u2019s for transgender rights, and they think Obama\u2019s big in human rights. So Obama can do anything else he wants! He\u2019s a great guy of because gay rights, gay marriage, transgender rights, human rights. Obama is god, and he can do anything! He can wiretap Trump. Whatever he does is perfectly fine \u2019cause he\u2019s really good at making us feel not guilty over America\u2019s past. “Jason Chaffetz more or less just gave away the big conceit in the Republican bill.<\/p>\n

“You\u2019re gonna have to cut back on modern luxuries like a phone if you want health insurance.” Okay. That is a bastardization and a distortion of what Chaffetz was saying.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here\u2019s the story. This is from Zero Hedge<\/a>, but the source of this is actually the CEO of Assurant. Do you know what Assurant is? Assurant insures gadgets. Assurant sells extended warranties for things like iPhones, iPads, TVs, dishwashers. Even if your Samsung dishwasher explodes, you can buy insurance on it. Did you know their dishwashers explode like their phones? Yeah.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s this guy, the CEO of Assurant, that went out and — \u2019cause he\u2019s in the insurance business — surveyed their customer base and a ton of other Americans and found some fascinating economic data. He was on Bloomberg TV — it was either yesterday or the day before — to explain why demand for his services is gonna increase. “The chief executive of Assurant, which is a mobile phone insurance company, said he expects a surge in demand as carriers begin to charge customers more to replace their devices. ‘If you think back five years ago, you as a consumer didn\u2019t know how much that phone cost…'”<\/p>\n

Because you went to the phone company and you bought the phone and they practically gave it to you. It was maybe $199 for the phone, and you had to sign a two-year contract. The cost of the phone was built into your monthly payment, but you didn\u2019t have to come up with it up front. Now all of the carriers have eliminated the subsidy, and when you want a phone, you have to pay for the whole thing up front now. And that\u2019s where this survey comes in.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cNow you\u2019re paying $600 [to $900], that\u2019s a lot. So we\u2019ve actually seen the attachment rate, or the number of people buying the product, going up a little bit in the last couple of years. … The reality is,'” after he did this market survey, “half of Americans can\u2019t afford to write a $500 check,\u2019 Colberg said.” This guy\u2019s name, by the way, is Colberg, Alan Colberg. Now, stop and think of this. “Half of Americans cannot afford to write a $500 check.” That\u2019s for anything. If they wanted to buy $500 of Skittles, they can\u2019t do it by writing a check, which means half of Americans do not have $500 in their checking account that\u2019s not allocated to something.<\/p>\n

“He spun that stunning statistic by saying that when U.S. customers sign up for a cellular plan, they\u2019re willing to buy” insurance for their phone, because the last thing they want to lose is their phone. The last thing they want is something happening to their phone. If they lose it, they want a replacement immediately. If the screen breaks, they want it fixed immediately. If something else about the phone breaks — if it bricks, if it stops working — they want it fixed immediately, and they will pay out the nose for insurance for their phones.<\/p>\n

And all Jason Chaffetz was saying was: Isn\u2019t it kind of interesting that people who can\u2019t pool together 500 bucks will still find a way to make monthly payments on insurance for their phones, and yet they don\u2019t think they should have to for their own health care? It\u2019s simply a value judgment that people have made. But I guarantee you since there\u2019s no such thing as phone insurance in America — meaning there\u2019s no federal program that will buy you a phone because you want one. Yet there are numerous health care plans that will pay for your doctor visit, that will pay for your hangnail, that will pay for whatever you need — and so if somebody will pay for it? Gladly!<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no way you can legally find somebody else to pay for your phone.<\/p>\n

The point is that when people, there\u2019s something they really want, they\u2019ll find a way to get it, and they\u2019ll find a way to make sure they continue to use it if something happens to it by buying an insurance plan on it. In other words, there are millions of Americans who do not have $500 in the bank but they are willing to dish out more than that on a phone, and then they will make monthly payments that are way beyond $500 to insure the purchase. They can\u2019t afford the insurance. They don\u2019t have $500. But they\u2019ll find a way to make it fit into a monthly payment somewhere.<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s also true you can\u2019t buy health insurance in monthly payments, right? You have to pay for it. (interruption) It depends on what kind of coverage you\u2019re getting. If you want instant replacement, instant repair, that\u2019s gonna cost you more than what they\u2019ll advertise. If you can wait two weeks for the phone to be replaced, repaired, or whatever, that\u2019s the entry price. We\u2019ve had some of these guys as sponsors here at the EIB. I\u2019ve talked to them about their business. I know exactly how they operate.<\/p>\n

\"\"I tell you what. When we were first approached by somebody that wanted to advertise the fact that they insure phones, I said, “I never heard of this.” And they set out to tell me how big a business it is, and I have to admit to you I was shocked. I said, “Well, don\u2019t the carriers provide some kind of insurance as part of the monthly plan?”<\/p>\n

“Yeah, but it\u2019s nothing like what we can tailor to every buyer.” And it turns out it\u2019s a huge business! And I had no idea. The idea of insuring a phone just — the point is here, Chaffetz chose the iPhone as his example of a desired purchase versus health care. And I don\u2019t know whether he was aware of this survey or not. If he wasn\u2019t, he\u2019s incredibly prescient, \u2019cause he was making an actually salient point.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s come off as being critical of buyers, critical of people. And, of course, since it\u2019s a Republican, that\u2019s how they want to report it, a mean-spirited, extremist Republican thinks you should give up your phone and pay for your own surgery, or whatever it is. You know how they distort news whenever it involves a Republican.<\/p>\n

But if people really want it, and apparently they want their phones, and they want insurance against anything happening to the phone, they\u2019ll pay for it. They will find a way, even the people that don\u2019t have 500 bucks in their checking account or in their back pocket will find a way to pay for it. Monthly payments, loans, what have you.<\/p>\n

But when it comes to health care, are you kidding? No way! Where\u2019s my Blue Cross card? Where\u2019s my this? Where\u2019s my that? And that\u2019s what we\u2019re up against in actually fixing health care, which is a major, major obstacle.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: By the way, there\u2019s another survey that goes along with this $500 do you have it or not story. Bankrate did another survey and they asked people, if you came on hard times, what would you first get rid of?\u00a0 And six out of 10 people said that they would eat out less.\u00a0 The least likely to face the chopping block:\u00a0 mobile phone plans.\u00a0 People will hold onto their cellular coverage as the last thing they have to get rid of.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll stop eating out.\u00a0 Then they\u2019ll stop eating.\u00a0 Then they\u2019ll stop drinking. Getting rid of the cell phone plan is the last thing they will do, according to this Bankrate survey.\u00a0 Only 35% said they would cut back on their wireless plans to save money.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Jason Chaffetz, Republican from Utah, is being savaged across the media for being a heartless, mean-spirited Republican for daring to suggest that people might want to choose health insurance over an iPhone. We went through all the latest survey data on economics and American spending habits and abilities. But I want to go back here to March 6th of 2014. Barack Hussein O, the president at the moment, was over at the Newseum.<\/p>\n

He participated in a Spanish-language town hall event focusing on “the importance of Latinos participating in the Affordable Care Act.” What a subject, right? (impression) “It\u2019s important! Uhhh, it\u2019s important for you Latinos be part of the Affordable Care Act, \u2019cause you Latinos, you\u2019re a different kind of people than other people, and you African-Americans, you\u2019re a different kind of people.” It\u2019s just weird the way Democrats look at. Why is it important for Latinos to be part of…? I mean, they\u2019re human beings. Isn\u2019t that enough?<\/p>\n