Student Cited By Ted Cruz As Proof Of Obama's Failure Is Actually Grateful For Obamacare

[CatWoman]

During his 21-hour talkfest on the Senate floor earlier this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) went through a litany of examples that he said highlighted the abject failures of President Barack Obama's policies.

One of them involved the case of John Connelly, a Rutgers student who found himself in debt, without a permanent job, and forced to sleep on his friend's couch. His story was one that was all too common in the age of Obama, Cruz concluded.

Well, it turns out that Connelly isn't the biggest fan of Cruz. What's more, he is actually a beneficiary of the very health care law that Cruz was protesting during his speech. And in an appearance on MSNBC Friday morning, Connelly explained just how ironic it was that the senator would use his story to bludgeon the president and the Affordable Care Act.

"A friend of mine called me the next morning as I was on the way to an optometrist appointment .... [and said], 'While Ted Cruz was talking about why the ACA's bad, he mentioned your name.' And I said, 'Well, that's funny. I'm heading to an appointment I can only go to because of Obamacare.'"

Cruz had apparently gotten Connelly's story from a recent Wall Street Journal article that focused primarily on student debt, not on health care reform.

Watch the video of Connelly's MSNBC appearance above.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/27/ted-cruz-filibuster_n_4003947.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037

[Doctor_J]

1. Strange that Fox didn't invite this guy on

[MattBaggins]

13. I'm sure they will

in an alternate universe

[PatrynXX]

14. alas if your tea party

Faux Noise is a channel thats given in to the Liberals. Yeah again in alternative Universe They are clamoring for The Blaze now to be on cable.

[gopiscrap]

31. Imagine that

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. Carnaval Cruz can't get anything right.

[Cha]

3. Just how out of touch with REALITY is this Cruz Twit?

Good for said reality that this story got out to msnbc!

[JEB]

4. Cruz will need his free Govenment Health Care to remove

the 20 hour foot from his mouth.

[Half-Century Man]

5. He is not going to stop putting his foot in his mouth

just buy him chocolate shoes and move on.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

21. Nah. Buy him a shoehorn to make room for two feet plus his third appendage. nt

[Ikonoklast]

33. Wrong end.

[JEB]

36. Cruz could work in a circus (real circus, not the Senate).

The ability to put his foot in his mouth with his head deeply embedded up his ass makes him a contortionist extraordinaire.

[BronxBoy]

6. Oops!!!!!!!

Don't you hate when that happens

[whttevrr]

7. Sigh... HuffPo...

NoScript and Ghostery block most of the page.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/jansing-and-co/53123374

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. No real shock from the party of Joe The Plummer.

[AAO]

9. Shit-eating grin, shit for brains... I see a pattern here.

[CatWoman]

10. Big Ed will be talking about this after the break

[SleeplessinSoCal]

11. Heard him on Ed Schultz. How does this get properly handled?

It's pure insanity that this is happening. There's no other explanation. The Tea Party has become mentally defective and thinks it speaks for everyone. Their popularity is falling from 30% to 20% before Ted's excellent jerk-off talk. What must it be now? Connelly ought to appear with Obama over the weekend and on Fox News with Chris Wallace.

[JI7]

12. these people are so fucking stupid

they can't see how much things like being able to stay on their parents health insurance plans would be helpful for young people who are already struggling. especially if they have health problems which require regular attention.

[malaise]

15. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah hahahaha

[Unrepentant Fenian]

16. Thank you for posting this, I'll be pointing this out to a few rethugs I know!

[Moonwalk]

17. Any schools Cruz graduated from should demand his diplomas returned right about now....

...no one this stupid could have passed without cheating his ass off (or paying someone off). And I don't mean just college. I'm thinking high school and kindergarden....

[sheshe2]

18. Kick kick kick!

Hey Ted Cruz!

Loony Tunes~ that's all folks~

[Historic NY]

19. Texas is missing of of their idiots.

[SunSeeker]

20. Saw him on Ed Schultz. He was quite eloquent and a great spokesman for the ACA

Obama should go on the road with him!

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

22. It is not in the interest of an RW bozo to represent reality truthfullly.

[bread_and_roses]

23. Interesting - NY Bronze seems to have no vision -

except pediatric - and would beggar anyone who actually had to use it, with it's individual $3000 deductible and 50% co-pay for everything (including treatments like chemotherapy and dialysis .... right) except the free preventives. Of course, maybe it is included under Primary care? Or is it one of these?

http://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/sites/default/files/Standard%20Products.pdf

All other preventive services required by USPSTF and
HRSA.
Covered in full
• *Preventive services that are provided in accordance with
the comprehensive guidelines supported by USPSTF and
HRSA are covered in full. Preventive services that are
provided outside of these guidelines may be subject to costsharing

I don't know what those are, or where to find out ... I don't know what "cost-sharing" is, is it different from "co-insurance?" What is "co-insurance" btw? Is that what I pay?

And of course I did not go through the "Tax Credit and Premium Estimator" ... to find out what my Premium would be BEFORE I got the wonderful benefit of having to pay the unimaginable cost of 50% of surgeries or chemotherapy ...

Then of course I should read also what is

Standard Catastrophic Product.pdf
Silver Cost-Sharing Reduction Variations.pdf

to figure out what they are ....

Oh - wait - there's an "out-of-pocket" limit: individual $6,350 on Bronze - I just saw that - does that mean that once I've paid that much in my 50%s the rest is covered in full for surgeries, chemo, etc? If that's so, why is there a "standard catastrophic product" that covers everything after $6,350? That's the same as Bronze out-of-pocket? Does that mean that Bronze doesn't cover everything after $6,350?

Wonderful. I can't wait. I'm not actually destitute ... so will I have to pay someone to explain this all to me?

I don't actually expect anyone to reply - nor, actually, do I want anyone to. A few of those questions I know the answer to - many I don't. I remember what it was like when I worked with HIV/AIDS patients who initially were supposed to pick from Medicare plans that covered different drugs ... most of them didn't fit quite into any of the plans, being on so many different drugs for many different conditions. It was a nightmare.

I am college educated. In my previous work I used to have to read, understand, and explain in plain English things like NYS OMRDD regs .... I looked at the home page and http://info.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/resource/covered-benefits-and-out-pocket-costs-standard-health-plans of New York Exchange website and my eyes glazed over and I felt unutterably weary ...

ah yes - the "Marketplace" of the Vampire Health Insurance industry ......

[questionseverything]

24. to have vision covered

this young man either benefits from his parents policy (the 26 year old thing) or is now on medicaid..(medicaid will pay for glasses for adults every 2 years i think)

i have been studying web sites too and i admit i am terrified

looks like my families cost will be over 30 % of income

and if the plan pays 60% after the 12,700 yearly out of pocket \who is responsible for the rest of bill?

example: 100,000 medical bill minus the 12,700 oop and the 60,000 the insurance would pay leaves $27,500 unpaid...so who owes that? or is it forgiven?

[bluestate10]

29. All health insurance plans price based upon how much payment risk the insured is willing to

assume to avoid paying higher premiums. That is the way it's always been. Health reform reduces the price of the premium for a particular plan because of the larger insured pool.

You have the option of buying a different level of Bronze coverage, purchasing a Silver level plan, or a Gold level plan.

In my state, the lowest Bronze level plan for a 4 member family with an income above $70,656 per year is $975 for the lowest level Bronze plan which has a $10,000 out of pocket maximum per year and a hospital stay 20% co-insurance split (the insurer pays 80% of the hospital stay, the insured pays the rest), so a $100,000 hospital bill will set the insured back $20,000. Families earning less than $70,656 per year qualify for state subsidies and would likely also qualify for subsidies under the ACA too, dropping the amount paid by the family, also allowing the family to buy Silver level plan with lower out of pocket maximums and 100% insurer paid hospital stays.

[bread_and_roses]

32. Yes, you have correctly identified the fatal flaw

Since no one knows what his or her health care needs will be tomorrow, the "risk the insured is willing to assume" is based not on "willingness" but purely on resources: how much can s/he "afford" (in itself a problematic term, since what the ACA calls "affordable" is, in many cases, not).

Basing your "insurance" on your ability to pay means not Platinum to Bronze "plans" but platinum to bronze people - you are only "worth" the care you can afford. This is unconscionable in a civilized society.

To pretend that decisions will be made on "what you/your family need" is pure market-speak and utterly dishonest. It is also dishonest to pretend that this is not another gazillion $$ transfer of the people's wealth to the Vampire Insurance industry. That is what those "subsidies" are.

[hue]

25. Cruz=liar,misinformed,stupid/dumb & wrong....

[Snake Plissken]

26. The people who support Cruz couldn't care less if he's telling the truth or not

Facts are of no concern to them. They only believe in right wing mythology They are fighting a holy war for the billionaires who have paid good money to brainwash them.

[SoapBox]

28. Super ditto.

[SoapBox]

27. Cruz...idiot...liar...LIAR

Need more even be said?

[Rebl]

30. If I

Was this young man, I'd inform Mr. Cruz the next time you use my name in one of your rants,you must get my permission. Otherwise you will be speaking to my lawyer. Better yet, you do not have permission to use my name in your misinformation b.s. campaign.

[Romulox]

34. Obamacare doesn't cover optometry. nt

[lonestarnot]

35. Guess he forgot about how they've fucked education. Snort. Students are not his friends.

[Scurrilous]

37. K & R

[Orsino]

38. Ted Cruz blames the fire chief for all those house fires. n/t