The folks behind ObamneyCare© can't make their case legitimately, so they continue to offer up frauds as exemplars.
Latest case in point:
"A Des Moines woman who publicly thanked President Barack Obama on Tuesday for helping her obtain health insurance actually is receiving her coverage through a long-standing state program."
Regular readers won't be surprised, of course, but it's a great object lesson for those on the fence about the existing safety net's availability and efficacy. In this case, a former lawyer (why am I not surprised?) allegedly lost her health insurance along with her job a couple of years ago.
The story gets fishy after that:
"She bought private coverage for her two children"
Really? From whom? We know that the child-only health insurance market started drying up in mid-2010. Was Ms Ibson one of the lucky few whose kids snuck in under the wire?
The mystery deepens:
"[She] could not find it for herself."
Again, why is that? Was COBRA continuation available from her former employer and, if so, why didn't she take it? She claims that "[n]o one would insure me because of my pre-existing conditions," but offers no explanation as to what they are (were?) or with whom she applied.
Why is that?
And then there's this whopper:
"In fact, Ibson’s current coverage is provided by HIP Iowa, a state program for people whose health problems make them ineligible for most commercial insurance."
The program's been around for some 25 years, so it's not as if it needed any boost from DC. Nor is it a net drain on the taxpayer (unlike PCIP): "Most of the program’s subsidies come from fees paid by commercial insurers."
Heh.
There are two major issues with stories like this: first, that the media laps them up uncritically and second, that they so often turn out to be based on lies (or at least obfuscation).
Latest case in point:
"A Des Moines woman who publicly thanked President Barack Obama on Tuesday for helping her obtain health insurance actually is receiving her coverage through a long-standing state program."
Regular readers won't be surprised, of course, but it's a great object lesson for those on the fence about the existing safety net's availability and efficacy. In this case, a former lawyer (why am I not surprised?) allegedly lost her health insurance along with her job a couple of years ago.
The story gets fishy after that:
"She bought private coverage for her two children"
Really? From whom? We know that the child-only health insurance market started drying up in mid-2010. Was Ms Ibson one of the lucky few whose kids snuck in under the wire?
The mystery deepens:
"[She] could not find it for herself."
Again, why is that? Was COBRA continuation available from her former employer and, if so, why didn't she take it? She claims that "[n]o one would insure me because of my pre-existing conditions," but offers no explanation as to what they are (were?) or with whom she applied.
Why is that?
And then there's this whopper:
"In fact, Ibson’s current coverage is provided by HIP Iowa, a state program for people whose health problems make them ineligible for most commercial insurance."
The program's been around for some 25 years, so it's not as if it needed any boost from DC. Nor is it a net drain on the taxpayer (unlike PCIP): "Most of the program’s subsidies come from fees paid by commercial insurers."
Heh.
There are two major issues with stories like this: first, that the media laps them up uncritically and second, that they so often turn out to be based on lies (or at least obfuscation).
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