Obama says: If Obamacare’s Too Expensive, Cancel Cable, Cell Phone

Auricom
reply to post by xuenchen

 

Isn't it supposed to be the "affordable healthcare act"?

Sheesh, if this is affordable in his opinion I'd hate to see what isn't!

Clearly his quite logical point sailed right over your ignorant head.
Something as important as healthcare certainly does become affordable when you prioritise, and stop buying alcohol every day, stop buying a new iphone every year, stop buying cigarettes, stop buying xboxes, stop buying junk food, etc....
Did you really need it spelled out for you?

reply to post by xuenchen


I thought Obama was your president, not a stand-up comedian? Hmm. Maybe I'm just confused as to what his responsibilities are.

Iamnotadoctor

Auricom
reply to post by xuenchen

 

Isn't it supposed to be the "affordable healthcare act"?

Sheesh, if this is affordable in his opinion I'd hate to see what isn't!

Clearly his quite logical point sailed right over your ignorant head.
Something as important as healthcare certainly does become affordable when you prioritise, and stop buying alcohol every day, stop buying a new iphone every year, stop buying cigarettes, stop buying xboxes, stop buying junk food, etc....
Did you really need it spelled out for you?

Screw that. I'll be better off just legally changing my name to something south of the border...and get it ALL for free...

Des

reply to post by Realtruth


You'd be surprised how much money you have left over if you stop buying useless crap you don't need.
It's not hundreds of dollars saved in a year, it's thousands. FACT.

reply to post by xuenchen


not really, he said live within your means... although there are still people out there that can have four 4k tv's a mansion big enough to house 20 families, and enough spare money to throw it out the window every day for hours... So what if you need to give up tv, the internet, your cell phone and just live in the dark with your awesome health care...

reply to post by Iamnotadoctor

You don't need cigarettes, and alcohol that kind of defeats the purpose of healthcare anyway.

You only need to buy an Xbox once...

reply to post by Brainiac


So you're stating that all Americans who pay for Obamacare don't drink or smoke cigarettes?
I assume you have the evidence to prove that so I'll let you reply with it.

And since I'll only ever need one xbox, then I should be able to purchase a used xbox that was released in 2001 and that will fulfil my desire to purchase the latest Grand theft auto game and play it on it.
And of course I will only ever play that one game on it, I won't desire any other games to play on it, correct?
And I won't 'need' that xbox 'live' subscription which I have to pay for to play multiplayer online?

I guess you're right...

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

I see... so we should willingly sacrifice our quality of life for his spectacularly stupid idea.

Nope.... This is NOT how to get people to buy your BS. I'm far from sold.

I would argue that it's far more important to have health insurance than a cell phone or cable. Cable is what, minimum of $70 a month? Most people seem to be spending well over $100. Most people seem to be spending near $100 on their phone plans with data. That right there pretty much covers my health insurance.

I suppose you and I have different definitions on quality of life. I would rather be healthy and debt free and be running around with some prepaid flip phone and watching Netflix than have enormous debt piled on me for even the most routine and minor medical emergency. Obamacare is fraught with issues, but when the alternative is seeing a TV show when it comes out or being able to go to the doctor without an enormous bill (and even with insurance it's nuts) I think Obama is spot on.

We can deride people for taking out loans they can't ever hope to pay off, but medical issues are a different animal. It is highly important to be insured, and the vast majority of debt (that's not just dumbassery) is caused by a lack of insurance. I am upset about that. I would wager my insurance premiums would be cut in half if everyone had insurance, because we wouldn't be paying extra for people that can't pay their bills because they need the latest phone or a new X-Box that they can't afford. The priorities are so out of whack with that it drives me nuts.

Again, I don't agree with Obamacare (though it was nice to learn I couldn't be passed over and that the most I could be charged out of pocket annually was around $7k for medical expenses) but I don't think Obama is wrong to state that medical insurance is more important than cable TV (I have lived without it happily most of my life) a cell phone (I really don't need to be able to check ATS when I'm pooping in a store) or obscene car payments/credit card debt/a house that I can't afford.

The whole system needs an overhaul. The amount we pay for medications and care is astonishing when compared to the rest of the world. There are very few perks to our system, and those perks are only available to a few. It's time we change our priorities and spend a little more on healthcare instead of the latest and greatest aircraft carrier. We would still be kicking every other militaries ass if we cut back the amount needed to fund universal healthcare. PS you know I love you Wrabbit.

jimmyx

Destinyone
reply to post by xuenchen

 

Guess he can stop passing out Obamaphones to those who haven't signed up yet....yeah that would work, huh....

What a fool he is....

Des

you are wrong too, about Obama passing out Obamaphones

www.forbes.com...

but who cares, right?...it's a great soundbite for dumbass voters

My worker has one, I call him every day. I'm happy he has it, really. I don't think he'd be able to manage paying for one on his own, due to poor priorities, but otoh.....he's more productive.

I dislike freeloaders as much as anyone, so a paradox there.

Brainiac
reply to post by Iamnotadoctor

 

You don't need cigarettes, and alcohol that kind of defeats the purpose of healthcare anyway.

You only need to buy an Xbox once...

Unless you get the dreaded RED RING OF DEATH!!!

Then you would have to buy it twice

Oh like I could help myself!!

He's got great teeth.
I wonder how much we paid for them?

Skyfloating
I agree with Obamski on this. Health should be more of a priority than Cable-TV.

It shouldn't have to be a choice.
I remember riding down the road with my (then) husband and I suddenly got hungry for a candy bar. I ate a candy bar once or twice a year, if that.. and he said to me 'Do you want a candy bar, or do you want a house." After a little thought I said, eff the house, I want a candy bar. Seriously, if a person has to give up something so small is there really even a choice--it was obvious to me that if my having a candy bar once a year was going to stand between us getting a house, then something was wrong with the budget, and the house was not affordable.

Yes, my candy bar was a priority, because nobody should have to sacrifice something so small.

Some people have no other entertainment than their cable tv, and others don't leave their homes that often for other reasons, such as medical, finances, etc.. So, Obama thinking that anyone should be put into a position to decide between their health insurance and their cable is grossly hypocritical, and not to mention out of touch with the real world in which most citizens live.

Those going on about the 'Obamaphones' are just perpetuating the propaganda. Obama didn't start the phone thing (not defending him-can't stand him), but truth is truth, and that whole Obamaphone rhetoric makes me want to vomit. Besides which, even if he had started it-so what, it's a cheesy phone with 250 minutes a month and rarely does it work. I hope everyone that has one gets great service, but good luck with that. Everyone wants free health care, but some of those same people don't want everyone to have the means to even call for help if they need it.

We should be working to live, not living to work.

so... the azz clown that is running a 17 trillion dollar deficit and 190 trilion in future unfunded liabilities feels he is competent to run someone's family budget... check.

and he recommends cutting costs to pay for high priority items? check.

and one of the items he recommends cutting is the thing one of his stupid programs adds 10 to 50 dollars to every month? (obama phone)

priceless.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


What she says is actually scary to me. "Change your mindset" , sacrifice (for them, for him?). Reading what she said and comprehending it in the manner it was said, was really quite disturbing to me. Seriously, just WTF are they giving up, and who do they think pays their wage. We should not be treating our Gov't. as if they are Royalty, and they should stop acting like they are. They live off of the taxpayers and are no better than the average citizen. Actually, most have more common sense than they do.
______________________________-

Please forgive me, but I've come to the point where I just cannot stand them any longer, and to think I ..
I could not stand Bush, but I can't remember ever feeling like this about another human being before-ever.

RobinB022

It shouldn't have to be a choice.
I remember riding down the road with my (then) husband and I suddenly got hungry for a candy bar. I ate a candy bar once or twice a year, if that.. and he said to me 'Do you want a candy bar, or do you want a house." After a little thought I said, eff the house, I want a candy bar. Seriously, if a person has to give up something so small is there really even a choice--it was obvious to me that if my having a candy bar once a year was going to stand between us getting a house, then something was wrong with the budget, and the house was not affordable.

Yea I doubt this happened but even if it did, you must have been eating way more than two candy bars a year, I mean whats that 3 dollars a year at the most for a regular size candy bar. I agree something with that budget was wayyyyyy off. You couldn't afford the house either way.

Some people have no other entertainment than their cable tv, and others don't leave their homes that often for other reasons, such as medical, finances, etc.. So, Obama thinking that anyone should be put into a position to decide between their health insurance and their cable is grossly hypocritical, and not to mention out of touch with the real world in which most citizens live.

Cable tv is a scam at this point, especially with the internet. You can get a subscriptions to services like netflix, huluplus, etc for dirt cheap. Not advocating it but most cable tv shows can also be found online for free. So if you cut out cable and just have internet thats a huge savings right there. Cable is a luxury not a necessity, health insurance is, because when these people get sick and can't afford care guess who picks up the bill, we do. On top of that we have to hear their sob stories about how they couldn't work and the entire family is massively in debt which could be avoided by having what.....HEALTH INSURANCE. Anyways, we do still have free channels accessible by the public.

We should be working to live, not living to work.

I completely agree but thats neither here nor there.

reply to post by xuenchen


I like this Xuenchen, you provided the whole relevant part of the video so that we could hear him speak in context. My thoughts are that Obama basically is saying that "Hey man, if you are paying for cell phones and Internet / cable, you are not prioritizing your budget."

Which says a few things to me. First off, that these people cannot afford to cut anything else but cell phone / Internet and cable bills. Someone screwed up on the economy if people "prioritizing" budgets involves cutting phone service. Or is Obama saying that he doesn't think that families earning $36,000 a year (middle-class) should be allowed to have Internet or cell phones?

If someone is a school teacher, is Obama saying that they should head down to the library for their internet fix and get a land line? At this point, we are talking about the majority of Americans. I think it's ridiculous. I think the economy is #.

I don't think Obama wants the economy to recover, either - i think he likes it just fine with people having to cut phone service and internet to their homes. Notice that $36,000 mark - that's how much the person is making who honestly cannot afford to make ends meet.

I bet there are many people like him, "prioritizing" by cutting into essentials.

We should be working to live, not living to work.

I completely agree but thats neither here nor there.

I agree with both of you - but the economy is so bad I'm not sure we have a choice in the matter right now -

And i am still livid about how the Baby Boomers crashed the economy leaving nothing for the rest of us, then blame my generation for being "entitled." That's a crack pot of #.

A baby boomer in that man's situation, earning the equivalent of his salary, would have had a house, and been spending every summer going on week-long vacations to various theme parks, maybe had a camper and a boat they never used, a hot tub and a pool in the back yard, who knows. Prioritizing the budget never meant cutting the phone and internet.

Now, I'm not saying that it those aren't decent goals, but I'm saying that the situation is certainly nothing like that today. And is that really the fault of the worker who has to decide to cut their phone service to afford health insurance?

Let's be clear and realistic about what opportunities the current generation has compared to older ones.

Back to the O.P., i just see the whole thing as a failure of economic policy. I thought it would be a problem to force people to cram another $300 + into their monthly budgets in an already bottomed-out economy.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

There are violations of principle that transcend **ANY** cause it could be done for.

Yes !
How is this so difficult to understand?
Stand for something, or fall for anything.

reply to post by RobinB022


My health care story goes like this: I earn around $800 a month. I spend $300 on rent (already putting a lot of effort and pulling strings into getting that low rent), $200 on food, $200 on bills. That leaves me $100.

Obama wanted me to spend $400 a month on his health care package. Sorry, no amount of prioritizing can fix that. So I closed the web browser. And this was the Washington State exchange. It included all deductibles and everything. Screw em.

Is Obama trying to make us all slaves with basics only or something like that?

reply to post by RobinB022

You took the words right out of my mouth.

My tv and satellite ( the same as cable) is all I have, aside from the internet. We can't afford to go out and eat, we don't go to the movies, or shopping at the mall. I haven't been in a mall in over 20 years except to go to an eyeglass store just inside a side entrance to get my glasses and contacts. Once. Now I buy reading glasses off the rack.

We have little else to entertain ourselves. Heck, even when you file for bankruptcy and fill out the budget, it allows for dining out and entertainment costs. If that's how I choose to spend that portion of my budget, so be it.

My husbands' work pays for his phone. Mine is prepaid, Metro PCS, we did the phones buy one, get one free. His company bought his, mine was free. 55 dollars a month. No iphone, Android for me, and a cheap one at that!

On the other hand, I pay the insurance premiums out of my pay. 335.00 every two weeks. That's 670.00 a month for health insurance, alone. After that, my retirement plan, then, I deposit something close to 75.00 every two weeks into my Health savings account. Another 150.00 a month.

My next expense is short term disability, my employer pays my long term, and they also pay my small life benefit. That doesn't include Dental and Vision, both are seperate plans, and I cover myself and my husband. I also have accident coverage for home, for both of us.

I am paying, right now, retail out of pocket, until I reach my 2700.00 pharmacy deductible. My medications are pushing close to 800.00 a month, alone.

Just had surgery. Prepaid the doctor for his part, 350.00, but still owe 247.00 for the office visit, all coming out of pocket.

Next, paid the hospital 200.00 when I registered for surgery. Haven't gotten the rest of that bill yet, but they ASKED for 2100.00 cash the day of surgery.

And, this is all just since January 1, 2014.

I would have to look at my paystub, because my healthcare deposits are pretax dollars. So is my retirement deposit every paycheck. The rest of the deductions, premiums, etc., leave me very little take home pay, but what little I do make goes to help pay bills, groceries, house payment, etc.

Then, the taxes. You would not believe what they take in taxes. Smh.

We don't drink, don't own xbox, so if the few things I do have offends anyone, eff off, because I am not going to give up everything I have worked for and earned up to this point.

Affordable health care? I am averaging 2k a month out of pocket right now, in premiums and meds alone, not even including medical bills.

We have zero expendable income left. If anything serious were to happen, car break down, etc., we would be in deep trouble, and my little 55.00 phone bill and satellite bill aren't going to make the slightest difference.

Obama has mentioned in the past he thought we had too much disposable income, bought too many gadgets, ipods, iphones, etc., and he disliked the fact. But, he had no problem using them to his advantage in his campaign, even buying campaign time on video games. If we didn't buy those things, and he wasn't able to reach the audience he did, he would have never been elected. Either time.

He made good on his determination to rid of us our disposeable income, with our necessarilly skyrocketing power bills, the price of food, gas, etc.

He only wants to take away gadgets now, to stymie the elections for the next time. He wants people to keep buying the Dem ticket, and with internet and cellphones, people may share opinions not deemed good for the Dem party.

Especially about affordable (cough) healthcare.