Rob Simmons: Unemployed Workers Should Seek Government Health Insurance

thinkprogress.org:

Simmons appears to be advocating a government-provided backstop health care option for unemployed people. Will Simmons face censure now that he appears to be violating yet another provision of the Republican Party Purity Pledge? If you ask Simmons' prospective GOP colleagues, like Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Medicaid is an abhorrent "medical ghetto."

Read the whole story: thinkprogress.org

Comments

[huff-fan]

11:21 AM on 12/01/2009

Tea partiers argue that Medicare is going broke so it makes perfect sense to get young people on board to cover the cost of the elderly whose care comprises "the overwhelming preponderance of U.S. health care costs."
http://www.medicaring.org/whitepaper/

[JanPoore]

08:19 AM on 12/01/2009

He shows his ignorance. If you make over $450.00 A MONTH, you don't qualify for medicaid. If you have more than $4000 in assets, you don't qualify. So if you are collecting unemployment and own a house or a car, you don't qualify. He should do his homework before he opens his mouth.

And he's against health care reform but telling people to apply for Medicaid. Interesting hypocrisy here.

[old lady]

07:58 AM on 12/01/2009

What a good idea... everybody write the congressman and lets find out what the options are...you know, the ones they've been keeping secret from us to make us think they don't exist.

We can compare notes.
What, there are no options.. Oh, well, never mind.

[jack7576]

05:10 AM on 12/01/2009

RINO liberal

[msgirlintn]

04:21 AM on 12/01/2009

He'll never get elected. Palin, Beck and the rest of the teabaggers will come after him as being too liberal. But the hypocrisy. He is against the healthcare reform and for Medicaid.

[ThankGodhesgone]

01:43 AM on 12/01/2009

Please tell me what the govt programs for health care that are available to me as a displaced worker. I had COBRA until it cost me $1300 a month to cover my family of 3. Are you proposing a public option that I can actually afford?

[old lady]

07:59 AM on 12/01/2009

I hear a move to Mexico might help.

[dtmfman]

10:42 AM on 12/01/2009

Exfriggenzactly what ThankGodhesgone said! I'm all for paying my own way...always have been always will be...but the problem is...after having been laid off after giving my blood sweat and tears for the past 10 yrs to a company...and then being basically thrown away...they refer to it as a RIF...I would very much like to be able to afford health care coverage for my family...hey...I'm 58...and guess what...I'm way past caring about myself...I'm worried about my wife and my son....I simply can't afford to pay an $1160.00/month cobra payment....thats more than my mortgage....especially now..without a job....my 401k is no more...I feel like the witch that dorthy threw water on...."I'm mmmmelting"

Out of work voice engineer....anyone need a very good telecom guy with over 25 yrs of experience?....

[Tim303]

01:04 AM on 12/01/2009

Hmm, I believe his idea is known as the "public option."

[Javani]

10:29 PM on 11/30/2009

All he said was people who lose insurance and are poor who qualify for Medicaid can apply for it. So?

The only matter troubling in the article is the writer's description of cap and trade as "progressive."

[nofltwlt]

09:34 PM on 11/30/2009

I'm sure this is not a new idea.

How about we abolish the health care of our elected officials and then let them develop a health care proposal that will include coverage for them?

[CR46]

10:29 PM on 11/30/2009

It would be up and running in weeks.
Or at least the ones who are against it should support their convictions and bow out of their gov supplied healthcare and buy it on the open market.

[Heartlight3]

09:24 PM on 11/30/2009

So wait, he's against a "government health plan" but if you are unemployed get government health care? He must be related to the teabaggers who don't want a government takeover of health care, but "keep your government hands off my medicare". Do they even listen to themselves?

[Birdman]

09:47 PM on 11/30/2009

What this person does not know is you CANNOT apply for Medicare/Medicaid simply because you are unemployed... The most that you can do is apply for cobra and that is really expensive to do. I would assume after you ran out of unemployment benefits you might be able to apply for Medicaid, but not until then. But the funny thing is he is against government reforms for healthcare but encourages people to get on a government run medical program... Funny stuff these GOP types are really something and hard to figure out.. Kind of like Cantor taking credit for the job fair that was funded by the stimulus he was against. Why don't we as voters hold these people accountable for their actions and rhetoric

[xlntcat]

11:45 PM on 11/30/2009

Qualifiying for Medicaid may vary from state to state but to qualify you can own nothing. If you lose your job but have an auto worth anything, you can't qualify. If you own a house you can't qualify. If you have savings exceeding $4000, you can't qualify. In this state, it isn't easy for an adult to qualify. You can be on SSI and not qualify for medicaid. Everytime one of these lame brain GOP politicians go down this road they prove their own incompetence and that they are out of touch not only with the reality of middleclass life but also with the law they enacted.

[realitytrumpsbull]

09:12 PM on 11/30/2009

Waitaminute, this whole thing is sponsored by insurance companies. I think I've seen this program, isn't this where Congressman Perkins and his trusty sidekick Steve go chasing the rare and nimble solvent taxpayer across the African veldt with the net and the dart gun? I can hear the narrative now: " Steve will now get out of the nice safe Land Rover, and prepare to fire the healthcare safety net over the heads of this herd of semi-solvent taxpayers. Watch as they dart left, then right, then straight down the middle, but too late, they go charging straight into the healthcare safety net, which falls over the top of them, but does not injure them. Then, Steve will fire the dartgun containing a special formula of rhetoric and low, affordable monthly premiums into the blood vein of each of their wallets." Something like that.

[curocat]

08:29 PM on 11/30/2009

So he wants Medicare to pay for this, so when the money runs out he can say we need to scrap it.. Look out Seniors the GOP is after you..

[JBS]

08:44 PM on 11/30/2009

Medicaid. Different program even if it does come from the same payroll tax stream.

Actually, a Medicare for All program would cost less than our current fractured for profit non-system. The biggest component in the rise of health care costs has been private insurance companies gouging out profits.

It's also the biggest driver behind the frequent horror stories about people who have insurance suddenly being cut off because they've gotten sick and need their insurance to pay the bills.

That's what insurance is supposed to do, but increasingly in the last two decades it's become a scam. They collect the premiums, then refuse to pay when it's time to meet the obligations they've undertaken.

[Redeemer777]

08:13 PM on 11/30/2009

Hypocrite

[SamEllison]

07:34 PM on 11/30/2009

I am unemployed, sounds good to me!
I want the plan the US Senate has, yeah, that's the ticket......

[joyf1]

08:27 PM on 11/30/2009

That's the government plan I thought he was referring to, not medicaid.

[worldlyhick]

07:29 PM on 11/30/2009

It seems really difficult to be eligible for Medicaid. I know in NC you can be too sick to work and not have any income or anything else and be turned down for Medicaid.

What is he talking about?