RUSH: James Taranto, the Wall Street Journal, has a story of a guy named Brendan Mahoney, who did succeed. It’s a Hartford Courant story, and this guy’s being joked about as the man who saved Obamacare. The subhead is: “Great news! They got a 30-year-old dude to sign up!” And here are the details. “Meet Brendan Mahoney, the young man who is saving ObamaCare. He’s 30 years old, a third-year law student at the University of Connecticut. He’s actually been insured for the past three years — in 2011 and 2012 through a $2,400-a-year school-sponsored health plan.” So he’s already got insurance and he went to the exchange. This year he is insured “through ‘a high-deductible, low-premium plan that cost about $39 a month through a UnitedHealthcare subsidiary.'” But even though he already had plan, at 39 bucks a month, “he wanted to see what ObamaCare had to offer.”
“He tried logging in to the exchange’s website at 8:45 a.m. yesterday, which is impressive in itself. Most young people don’t get up that early. ‘He said the system could not verify his identity.'” He’s got insurance, don’t forget. He’s paying $39 a month through a United Health Care subsidiary, high deductible, low premium plan, school-sponsored health plan. When the system couldn’t verify his identity, “he called the toll-free help line, whose operator also encountered computer trouble. ‘But then he logged on a second time, he said, and the system worked.'”
He told the Hartford Courant, “‘Once it got running, it was fast. It really made my day. It’s a lot like TurboTax.’ He obtained insurance through ObamaCare. Now, he says, ‘if I get sick, I’ll definitely go to the doctor.’ Even better, if he stays healthy, he won’t need to go to a doctor, and his premiums will support chronically ill policyholders on the wrong side of 40.”
This is the guy, this is what they’re looking for. Now, hang in there with me, folks. This is not over. This is exactly what they’re looking for, a 30-year-old healthy guy to sign up and pay the freight so that nanaw and grandpa can be treated. They’re looking for 30-year-olds who are not gonna get sick, not gonna put any financial strain on the system. They pay the premium, they pay the freight. This guy had a premium of 39 bucks. He wanted to see if he could beat that on Obamacare, and he did.
“So, how much of a premium is strapping young Brendan Mahoney paying to help make ObamaCare work? Oops. The Courant reports that Mahoney ‘said that by filling out the application online, he discovered he was eligible for Medicaid.'” So 30-year-old strapping, healthy dude, Brendan Mahoney, beginning next year will not pay any premium at all because Obamacare, the exchange, told him, based on the way he filled out the data, that he is eligible for Medicaid.
What a fabulous success story for Obamacare’s first day. Here we have a future lawyer — remember, now, this guy is I think a 3L at the University of Connecticut. He was gonna be a lawyer, might still be a lawyer. He was already paying for insurance, and he’s been converted into a welfare case. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the objective. When you strip it all away, this shows how all of this is really designed to work.
Now, on the surface — and everything I’ve told you here is true — this 30-year-old guy signs up, he’s paying a premium of $39, but, you know, he’s curious. He’s a tech savvy guy. He wanted to find out what it was all about. Maybe he could beat the 39 bucks. So he fills out all the necessary forms, inputs all the data, and he finds out at age 30 he qualifies for Medicaid, and therefore he’s become a welfare case.
So this 30-year-old guy — and hopefully, theoretically millions like him who are gonna be signing up and paying all these premiums so that nanaw and grandpa can get health coverage and treatment, qualified for Medicaid. So a 30-year-old guy — who was gonna be a lawyer, so you figure he’s got some decent earning power — has been converted by Obamacare into a welfare case. And he didn’t pull any strings. He didn’t know anybody. He didn’t ask for special treatment. This is just what the system spat out.
So now he doesn’t have pay 39 bucks. Now he can get rid of that health plan he’s got at school. At 30 years of age, he discovered he was eligible for Medicaid. He’s a healthy guy. I is a joke here that they’re saying, “Here we have great news, a 30-year-old guy signed up,” because the story is nobody’s been able to sign up. But lo and be, “Hey, we got a guy!” You know, the regime can tell everyone, “We got a guy! We got a guy! It’s this guy in Old Clayneck, Connecticut, 30 years old. Look at this, what we did here. We got a guy! We got a guy.
“He’s exactly who we want to sign up here,” and Obamacare turned him into a welfare case. They turned him into a ward of the state. A guy that’s gonna be a lawyer, is gonna have decent earning power is now a Medicaid recipient. “Oh, come on, Rush! It’s just a first-year glitch. These things will get ironed out.” A little companion story here from the Washington Free Beacon. “Health insurance premiums for young people will rise in all 50 states under Obamacare, with an average increase of 260 percent, according to a study released Thursday.
“The young and healthy segment of the uninsured is considered crucial for the Affordable Care Act to succeed. Former President Bill Clinton suggested last week that Obamacare only works ‘if young people show up.'” Well, what the hell, folks? Here we got this young guy that showed up and the system made him a Medicaid recipient. He didn’t game it. He is just going through the process and found out that he qualified for Medicaid — and I’m telling you, in my not so cynical opinion, I think that is the long-0term objective is to turn everybody into a welfare case in this country, folks.
That’s the long-term objective of not just Obamacare, but of the Democrat Party. Turn everybody into a dependents. Make everybody dependent on government for things they consider really important, like their health care. Here’s another one. The Associated Press: “A Bumpy First Day for New Affordable Care Act Insurance Marketplaces — The technical trouble couldn’t dampen the relief Hussein Daoud felt for himself, his wife and their six children. The 51-year-old Detroit man came to apply for insurance at the Dearborn-based nonprofit organization ACCESS. With the help of counselors, he learned that his annual income of $14,500 made him eligible for Medicaid, and he likely won’t have to pay for a plan that covers his family.”
He’s 51 years old. He, his wife, and six children — and an annual income of $14,500? What in the world…? (interruption) Yeah, eight people for free, but before you get there, how are eight people getting by on his $14,500 annual income? Well, I know. Food stamps and all the other stuff, but so eight people in Dearbornistan go in to sign up and he end up becoming wards of the state. Health care for them is free as well, in addition to the strapping young 30-year-old Brendan Mahoney in Connecticut. (laughing)
On one hand, this is the biggest collection of Keystone Cops and incompetence running. On the other hand, this is a really, really profoundly dangerous thing that’s happening here. But there’s a part of me that, I’m sorry, cannot suppress my laughter at raging… I know you might think it’s a conflict to call them incompetent when they’re registering all these wards of the state. I am here to tell you, folks, that they did not intend for 30-year-olds to be comped. That was never part of the plan. That’s who is going to have to pay. How in the world…?
The way that they make those people wards of the state is take all of their disposable income in the form of health care premiums and make them dependent in other ways. But they do need money flowing into the system. They do need some people paying premiums, and they can’t get by with just the rich paying premiums; there isn’t enough money there to cover everybody. So they need these strapping, young, 30-year-old guys and women, who aren’t gonna get sick, paying into the system — and the system’s converting ’em to welfare recipients. (Raspberry) Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here’s Lee, New York City. Lee, it’s great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: How are you? Hey, you spoke about the Obamacare success story with 30-year-old guy in law school getting a free ride.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: They’re probably tickled pink about this because what’s gonna happen in a few years or less than that this guy starts earning six figures and he’s stuck in the program? Hello, premiums!
RUSH: Now, that’s a good point. He’s talking about the first story I had in the Stack today, a Hartford Courant story about Brendan, some 30-year-old law student at University of Connecticut. He is in, folks, an insurance plan right now at school where he has a $39 a month premium. So he went to the Obama exchange in Connecticut on the website, and he got through, and he signed up.
Well, he found out that he qualifies for Medicaid as a college student. He doesn’t have any income, not to speak of, so he’s poor. So he qualifies for Medicaid. So right now, he doesn’t pay anything. Now, the regime… He’s 30, still in school. The regime wants people like this guy paying full freight to pay for nanaw and grandma. So people are making a big joke about the fact that this Brendan guy — a healthy, strapping 30-year-old — has been converted into a ward of the state by Obamacare.
But Lee’s point here is, if this guy finishes school and does become a lawyer and does find a job (and all of those are questionable) then he’s no longer qualifying for Medicaid, is he? He won’t qualify for Medicaid once he gets a job as a lawyer, ’cause he won’t qualify for Medicaid anymore. As Lee points out, this 30-year-old strapping young Brendan guy, he’s not gonna like it. He’s not gonna like the revelation that his premiums are gonna skyrocket, and that’s true. That’s gonna be a delayed reaction, because that requires old Brendan to graduate and then find a job at a decent law firm where he hangs his own shingle or what have you.
It’s a great point, Lee. I appreciate that.
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RUSH: Here’s Nancy, Salt Lake City. Hi, Nancy, great to have you on the program. Hi.
CALLER: Hello. Nice to speak with you. Thank you for your time. I’ll get right to the point ’cause I know you’re busy. I want to tie in your very first story in the first hour and the story in your second hour about the Medicaid. I’m a single mom. I make $5,000 a year. I qualify for Medicaid, but my spend down premium is $460 a month. I am not eligible for any tax credit subsidy because my income is below 100% of the federal poverty level, which is 99% of my household income. This is a mess, it’s a chocolate mess.
RUSH: Wait a minute. You make $5,000 a year?
CALLER: Yes. I’m a student and I make $5,000 a year and I’m trying to get out of the toilet.
RUSH: Oh, okay, student. And you don’t qualify. You make too little to qualify for poverty?
CALLER: I do qualify. I am 100% below the federal poverty level.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: But for me to have Medicaid I have to pay the state of Utah $460 a month.
RUSH: Well, how did this clown in Connecticut get onto Obamacare and he’s not gonna pay anything?
CALLER: Exactly, and he doesn’t even have a child that he has to raise.
RUSH: Well, not that we know of.
CALLER: Well, that’s true, too.
RUSH: Not that he knows of.
CALLER: I’m still trying to see the future pay-in, you know. But, anyway, so I’m not available for any tax credit subsidies that they claim that the poor people get to help them —
RUSH: This is incredible. So people at or below 100% of the poverty line cannot get Obamacare subsidies?
CALLER: Correct. You are correct. I have it right here in black and white. I do not qualify for any of the subsidy. But yet they want 99% of my household —
RUSH: You know, I could be really insensitive and say, “Welcome to my world.”
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: But I wouldn’t do that.
CALLER: But that’s okay.
RUSH: I’m not doing that, Dawn, don’t shake your head. I wasn’t doing that. I told her I could, but I wouldn’t. I’m not doing that. I just want you to know I don’t get subsidies, either.
CALLER: Yeah. It blows you away, doesn’t it, how this Obamacare is supposed to help the poor and —
RUSH: Yes, I know.
CALLER: — blah, blah, blah.
RUSH: I did not know that you could be too poor to qualify for Obamacare. You’re supposed to get Medicaid, but you have to pay $460 bucks a month did you say for Medicaid?
CALLER: Correct.
RUSH: That doesn’t sound like it makes any sense. Anyway, I’ve gotta run. I’m outta time. I’m very sorry, Nancy, but that we’ll have to look into. Don’t go away, folks. Be right back.
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RUSH: I don’t understand having to pay $400 a month for Medicaid. I’ve never heard of that before. I’m not challenging what she said; I just haven’t heard about it.