Medicine for working Americans
There’s been a lot of talk of this Joe the Plumber guy. The McCain camp has attempted to utilize this man, who, it turns out, is a rather unsavory character, as a means by which to connect to the working class and, moreover, to try and get back in the ring with Obama.
Let me begin with a little background on this guy.
His real name is Samuel Joe Wurzelbacher, and he is an unlicensed plumber (even though the county in which he works requires it). Despite the insinuation from the McCain camp, Wurzelbacher does not even come close to making $250,000 a year (the point at which his taxes would go up under the Obama plan), nor is the company that he wants to own worth that much.
He was also not registered to vote at the time of his conversation with Obama. Additionally, Wurzelbacher owed the state of Ohio over a thousand dollars in back taxes.
Does that sound like the kind of person to whom we want working class Americans compared?
How about we take a different example?
Let’s call him “Joe the 46-year-old Construction Worker.”
This Joe has two kids in college. He and his wife own their own home, they pay their mortgage, they work hard to make ends meet, and they have been hit very hard by the state of our country.
Despite his age and declining health, especially in his knees, Joe still works in the construction industry. He still builds things. Until recently, Joe relied on healthcare benefits given through his company to support himself and his family.
Unfortunately, Joe’s company decided to drop health insurance coverage for his family a few months ago.
The insurance, called “Builder’s Benefits,” offers very good coverage. Since Joe’s family has a lot of health problems, especially his teenage daughter, he decided to pay for that insurance out of pocket… for $143 a week.
Joe only makes $600 a week. Groceries per week cost around $200. I won’t even go in to utilities, taxes, gas money and bills.
To help make up this cost, Joe’s wife Becky quit her part-time job for a full-time one. Even with the added money, Joe is certain he will not be able to afford the insurance for much longer. Moreover, Joe is far too old to obtain a job in the same field at another company, and many of the companies in his region have also dropped coverage or gone out of business altogether.
If you haven’t guessed already, Joe and Becky are my parents.
Right now, if my parents attempted to switch to a different insurance company not provided through the workplace, the price would be much higher, because of the “high risk” of potential and “preexisting” health problems in my family.
So, not only are we locked in to “Builder’s Benefits,” (at least until healthcare benefits can be obtained through my mother’s new job), but the healthcare system in this country makes it so that hard working people with the potential for health problems cannot afford the help they need.
Luckily, under Barack Obama’s healthcare plan, companies would be required to provide healthcare for their workers, or they would have to pay a tax that would help to fund a national healthcare pool for workers who are not provided benefits.
John McCain’s plan would not be so generous.
According to CNNMoney, “To his credit, McCain does have a plan for relatively young, low-income Americans who can’t afford insurance. … But McCain sorely lacks a plan for people in their 50s without corporate benefits, and Americans with pre-existing conditions, who would be brutally stripped of coverage if insurance crosses state lines.”
Moreover, despite McCain’s contention that he will not tax the rich to pay for his idea, the plan, according to MIT Economist Jon Gruber, would “require huge subsidies he’s not talking about.”
I’ve got to tell you, I take huge offense to the idea of being “stripped of coverage” merely because I (and my sister) have chronic conditions or because my parents are approaching age 50.
According to the Center for American Progress, in the first year of McCain’s proposed plan, around 20 million Americans would lose healthcare coverage (this number was reiterated at a lecture on healthcare in the ballroom last Friday).
I refuse to be one of them.
The right-wing pundits have called Obama’s healthcare plan “socialist.” Though I disagree with that statement, I say, even if it is, so be it.
Real working class Americans like my parents would pick healthcare coverage over the threat of socialism, and it is my opinion that you should, too.
If for no other reason (and there are plenty), this is why I’m voting for Barack Obama.
PissedLet me begin with a little background on this guy.
His real name is Samuel Joe Wurzelbacher, and he is an unlicensed plumber (even though the county in which he works requires it). Despite the insinuation from the McCain camp, Wurzelbacher does not even come close to making $250,000 a year (the point at which his taxes would go up under the Obama plan), nor is the company that he wants to own worth that much.
He was also not registered to vote at the time of his conversation with Obama. Additionally, Wurzelbacher owed the state of Ohio over a thousand dollars in back taxes.
Does that sound like the kind of person to whom we want working class Americans compared?
How about we take a different example?
Let’s call him “Joe the 46-year-old Construction Worker.”
This Joe has two kids in college. He and his wife own their own home, they pay their mortgage, they work hard to make ends meet, and they have been hit very hard by the state of our country.
Despite his age and declining health, especially in his knees, Joe still works in the construction industry. He still builds things. Until recently, Joe relied on healthcare benefits given through his company to support himself and his family.
Unfortunately, Joe’s company decided to drop health insurance coverage for his family a few months ago.
The insurance, called “Builder’s Benefits,” offers very good coverage. Since Joe’s family has a lot of health problems, especially his teenage daughter, he decided to pay for that insurance out of pocket… for $143 a week.
Joe only makes $600 a week. Groceries per week cost around $200. I won’t even go in to utilities, taxes, gas money and bills.
To help make up this cost, Joe’s wife Becky quit her part-time job for a full-time one. Even with the added money, Joe is certain he will not be able to afford the insurance for much longer. Moreover, Joe is far too old to obtain a job in the same field at another company, and many of the companies in his region have also dropped coverage or gone out of business altogether.
If you haven’t guessed already, Joe and Becky are my parents.
Right now, if my parents attempted to switch to a different insurance company not provided through the workplace, the price would be much higher, because of the “high risk” of potential and “preexisting” health problems in my family.
So, not only are we locked in to “Builder’s Benefits,” (at least until healthcare benefits can be obtained through my mother’s new job), but the healthcare system in this country makes it so that hard working people with the potential for health problems cannot afford the help they need.
Luckily, under Barack Obama’s healthcare plan, companies would be required to provide healthcare for their workers, or they would have to pay a tax that would help to fund a national healthcare pool for workers who are not provided benefits.
John McCain’s plan would not be so generous.
According to CNNMoney, “To his credit, McCain does have a plan for relatively young, low-income Americans who can’t afford insurance. … But McCain sorely lacks a plan for people in their 50s without corporate benefits, and Americans with pre-existing conditions, who would be brutally stripped of coverage if insurance crosses state lines.”
Moreover, despite McCain’s contention that he will not tax the rich to pay for his idea, the plan, according to MIT Economist Jon Gruber, would “require huge subsidies he’s not talking about.”
I’ve got to tell you, I take huge offense to the idea of being “stripped of coverage” merely because I (and my sister) have chronic conditions or because my parents are approaching age 50.
According to the Center for American Progress, in the first year of McCain’s proposed plan, around 20 million Americans would lose healthcare coverage (this number was reiterated at a lecture on healthcare in the ballroom last Friday).
I refuse to be one of them.
The right-wing pundits have called Obama’s healthcare plan “socialist.” Though I disagree with that statement, I say, even if it is, so be it.
Real working class Americans like my parents would pick healthcare coverage over the threat of socialism, and it is my opinion that you should, too.
If for no other reason (and there are plenty), this is why I’m voting for Barack Obama.
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