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Fact-Check: Rand Paul's Obamacare Story Doesn't Ring True
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/rand-paul-son-kentucky-automatically-enrolled-medicaid
Sunday, during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told a wild tale about his son's trouble with Obamacare. Paul claimed that one of his sons (the Pauls have threeWilliam, Duncan, and Robert) was enrolled in Medicaid in Kentucky against his will. The senator briefly flashed a blue-and-white insurance card before launching into a diatribe about his son's travails: "We didn't try to get him Medicaid
They automatically enrolled him in Medicaid," Paul said. "For a month they wouldn't talk to us because they said they weren't sure he existed. He had to go down to the welfare office, prove his existence, then, next thing we know, we get a Medicaid card."
Paul then extrapolated from his son's experience to make a general point about Kentucky's health exchange: "Most of the people in Kentucky are getting automatically enrolled in Medicaid."
Conservative websites latched onto Paul's claim as the latest example of Obamacare's failures. There's one problem, though: Paul's story doesn't make sense. No one is being automatically enrolled for Medicaid in Kentucky, says Jill Midkiff, communications director for the state's health department. "We're not automatically enrolling people," Midkiff explains. "People have to actually go and apply." The Affordable Care Act allowed states to automatically add residents who already receive other social services, such as food stamps and other health programs, to the Medicaid rolls. But Kentucky chose not to take advantage of that provision of the law. The state is notifying some residents of their eligibility for Medicaid, but Paul's son would have needed to actually apply for Medicaid in order to receive a Medicaid card.
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Rest at the link. Plus his oldest is only 19. Why isn't he on his parents insurance?
frazzled
(18,402 posts)Enroll in Medicaid to piss off your libertarian/conservative parents.
In our day, of course, it was growing your hair long or burning your bra. Or dodging the draft. I like this "sign up for Medicaid" teen rebellion.
randr
(12,408 posts)He needs to be hung out with his lies for once and all.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)to report on the veracity of politicians' statements ... or so we've been told.
randr
(12,408 posts)60 Minutes and other media outlets would have been all over this.
northoftheborder
(7,566 posts)salin
(48,954 posts)Clearly somethings are wrong in this story. One of them is really obvious:
Rand has been so indoctrinated by his father that he believes that the government is evil and there are always evil intents - so much so that he flies off the handle and foams at the mouth before a national audience (with an air of certainty) without considering that he ought to do some fact checking, first.
And who is "they"? For a month they wouldn't talk to us.... He had to go to the office to prove he existed..." Which office and what were you all (as in "us" trying to get "them" to talk to you about?
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)and a typical Tea Party adherent. Now, I'm thinking he may actually be a psychopath. There are just too many incidents like this. They keep piling up. Either that, or he relies on a staff who live in the right-wing bubble and they pass along these fairy tales to him as truth.
salin
(48,954 posts)being fed by those in the bubble - and being a stark raving radical with a loose grasp on reality outside of the bubble.
In this case, his arrogance and nuttiness is on display.
karynnj
(59,475 posts)1) What the son got was the card informing him of Medicaid.
2) "They" would not speak to Rand Paul - due to HIPA. (Try to get any information on healthcare/insurance for a child over 18 - YOU can't.) However, the son himself might have been told he was not in the system --- no surprise as he never signed up -- and correctly told he had to go to an office.
3) He went to an office -- and he actually DID sign up then.
Of course, this means his son is really not the brightest or - like his dad - he doesn't listen to what anyone tells him.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)herding cats
(19,549 posts)Not that that's surprising or anything tho. Sure the Tea Party doesn't care about truth, so he's safe in keeping their love and affection. But if he's not careful he's going to find himself as irrelevant as Palin is in the world of real politics. As she discovered, you can't rely on less than 25% of the voting populations love to keep you in politics. Sometimes when you run around spewing crazy shit and lies with every breath, you become too much of a liability for the real politicians to want to be associated with you anymore.
Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,482 posts)Rand's ghost, or some shit like that. If something were to happen to him. Well fuck it. He played his cards by venturing out into the world from inside Mrs. Paul through his dad's freedom loving balls. Fucking slacker!
bullwinkle428
(20,626 posts)pnwmom
(108,925 posts)Why would they need to prove his existence to the welfare office? Because he had applied for assistance. And while he was there, they signed him up for Medicaid, which apparently was more than Rand Paul had intended.
But why had Paul sent his 19 year old to the Welfare office in the first place?
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)he (paul) could claim that the big bad government signed up his son against his son's wishes.
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)And that stale, hot, foul, wind that so freely blows from Brother Rand's self-aggrandizing lips, reeks of pure old 100% republican bullshit.
A republican that ain't lying, is an unborn republican liar, in training.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)actually filled out papers and did not know he was applying for MA? This family does not seem to be the brightest bulbs in the room.
rickford66
(5,498 posts)If he isn't claimed as a dependent on someone else's taxes in 2014 and his 2014 income is low enough, he can qualify for Medicaid. My wife and I are retired and on Medicare. My working son is 20. If I claim him as a dependent next year he would have to buy insurance in the marketplace. High premiums and deductable for a kid. By not claiming him, he had a choice of several Medicaid plans. They all had the same coverage but are administered by different health groups. We picked Excellus BC/BS. Oh, he keeps his present primary care physician. I cannot comment on the rest of Rand Paul's BS.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)and apply to FREE state health care?
rickford66
(5,498 posts)I just related how he could qualify for Medicaid. I'm no fan of the Pauls.
karynnj
(59,475 posts)but Senator Paul could have insurance from the Senate. (Did he refuse to take it?)
rickford66
(5,498 posts)If his son isn't his dependent any more, he qualifies for Medicaid or subsidies depending on 2014 income. Doesn't matter what insurance Paul has. This was explained to me when I signed my son up. I had trouble with the NY website. I was on the phone for two hours and learned quite a lot. Paul's son is no different than anyone else if he's on his own.