Rep. Jason Chaffetz recommends lowly poors stop buying iPhones and invest in healthcare instead

A Republican lawmaker on Tuesday walked back his remarks earlier in the day that low-income Americans may have to prioritize purchasing health care coverage over gadgets such as iPhones under Republicans' Obamacare replacement plan.

The controversy began when House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day" that he wants low-income Americans to be able to have more access to health coverage."But access for lower income Americans doesn't equal coverage," Camerota said."Well, we're getting rid of the individual mandate. We're getting rid of those things that people said that they don't want," Chaffetz replied. "Americans have choices, and they've got to make a choice. So rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care."They've got to make those decisions themselves," Chaffetz added.

...

Later Tuesday morning, Chaffetz walked back his remarks, though he stood by his argument that Americans would need to better prioritize health care spending under the new plan."What we're trying to say -- and maybe I didn't say it as smoothly as I possibly could -- but people need to make a conscious choice and I believe in self-reliance," he said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "And they're going to have to make those decisions."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/politics/jason-chaffetz-health-care-iphones/

He's rightfully getting ridiculed for this nonsense. Is there a more unlikable Congressman than Chaffetz?

WaPo: If Jason Chaffetz wants to compare health care to iPhones, let’s do it the right way

The Intercept: Rep. Jason Chaffetz Is Wrong. A $700 iPhone Can’t Cover Your Health Insurance.

President Obama said something equally stupid in 2014

He's an ass. Like most of the entitled.

According to the supporters of Obamacare one with low earnings can get subsidies dramatically reducing insurance cost. Were they lying? If they were truthful, the amount of money spent on a cell phone plan (for a smart phone) could pay for insurance. You can mock the politician all you want but it seems as if some of you aren't fond of priorities.

Of course, deride the poor as being bad with money (luxury items over insurance), when in reality the costs of both aren't even comparable.

Typical derision of poor people. Disgusting.

I get what he was trying to say, that people need to plan their budgets and make healthcare a priority in there, but he said it in the most douchey, over-entitled, elitist way possible. Especially from a guy who gets taxpayer-subsidized health coverage, and can use campaign funds to pay for his iphone and Verizon bill.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/03/08/jason_chaffetz_donors_might_pay_for_iphone_data_plan.html

He's 100% right, I guess he could have worded it better/nicer, but it was something that needs to be said more often and louder.

Sure thing! I'm so glad that a politician whose healthcare is subsidized and gets a comfy salary is telling me and other plebs such as SolarYellow what to do.

Gosh, maybe I'll be just as despicable and corrupt as him too!

Like I keep saying, I'm disgusted to be from this same state as this manchild.

Well I assume the poor people he talks about buys 6-7 iPhones a year.

It came out yesterday that two or three different companies buy his phones for him and pay his phone bills (add that to the American public paying his medical and the irony is just.......... oh man) but it turns out this guy spends over 4k a year on phones... of someone elses money, but its being spent. So if that is his measurement, it slightly makes sense. Its still not acceptable for him to suggest as health care costs are not simply health insurance.

As well as all his corporate donations.

Chaffetz talks about self reliance yet his lifestyle is essentially paid for by taxpayers. He has never spent a day in his life as the working poor.

How do you spend 4K on phones (I assume this covers dataplan and whatnot also) a year?

Then again I hear the same thing about some Norwegian politicians. The worst among them managed to use 12K a year at most I believe.

New phones for the family.

When you're spending someone else's money, you're not too worried about dropping 2k for four phones and then when a new phone comes out six months later, doing it again. Right? The math makes sense when you consider it like that. He has 3 kids and a wife, so a family of 5. iphones are what? 5-600 each? plus tax and service x5. Im also guessing he would want 2... why not. The best criminals have 2 cells and i mean... you need one for your mistress, your personal Monica.

"Dad i broke my phone again, i need a new one" "Use the warranty" "Why do that when you can give me your corporate overlords credit card?"

I agree. I've seen way too many families, on welfare, where each member has some gadget like that. When it comes to getting their, or their childs' prescription, they won't pick it up because it isn't covered. But they can buy cigarettes, which I only assume since I can smell it from their horrible breath. Priorities people! This goes down to the very blunt saying where poor people stay poor because they're horrible with money.

But I have no idea who that person is, in the article. And I'm not American and don't have to deal or listen to that nonsense on a daily basis.

You guys have already pointed out the cost disparities of the two items. Also, I see quite a few poor people - you know how many I've seen with an iphone?

Zero.

But that can't be right because we know that poor people are living high on the hog at the expense of the rich.

Here's a good article on this topic revealing the amount of iphones you would need to not buy to afford various healthcare issues. Spoiler alert, it's a lot.
http://vitals.lifehacker.com/here-s-how-many-iphones-you-ll-need-to-not-buy-to-affor-1793056384

You've never really been poor or even low-income, have you?

Those cigarettes cost like five bucks a pack, and lets just say they're an average smoker so they go through maybe five packs a week (they smoke a lot when they work but take it easy on their days off). That's 30 dollars after taxes or whatever.

30 days of uninsured meds is probably going to costs upwards of hundreds depending on what it is. Food for an entire family cost a lot more than 30 dollars a week. Usually the smokes are bought with leftover change, found change, or because they're simply too poor to buy what they need so "**** it I might as well buy some smokes if I'm going to starve".

It's really easy to sit there with a calculator and spread sheet and go "Herp derp, if you just quit smoking and this and that you could save X + Y + Z per year!" but the fact is the day to day shit and nonsense happens, and we are only human.

And the sheer amount of joy that a cigarette brings to a stressed out person. Oh man, it's glorious. Just sitting there on the curb, enjoying all those smug bastards looking at you like "Ew a smoker" and you are just like "Haha yep, **** you too" and you're just enjoying life for a few minutes because nothing really matters. It's worth every penny and every minute it takes off your life. Anyone that asks how people can smoke obviously has never smoked; it's freaking nice. Yeah, I'd take a Twinkee out of kids lunch so I could have my cigarette.

And whatever, they're not buying ten-dollar vegan fair-trade weasel shit coffees and getting haircuts for their dogs....

As many people have already pointed out there is a MASSIVE cost difference here that does not make any rational sense. And ive noticed this idea that poor people are poor because they dont know how to spend money properly, tends to come from people who dont worry about money and potentially never have. They also don't grasp the financial situations people are in or understand costs of medicine.

Lets pretend all i needed for all of my health care costs was monthly insurance. My insurance is 180 a month. My phone is 50. I need my phone for work (and if i could not afford a phone, you'd be telling me to spend my money better), smart phones are an amazing device and beyond value given the cost. So the phone that most people need for a job, is about 600 a year total. Insurance, would be roughly 2200..... and now i am done pretending and living in a fake world where that would be my only cost..... Aside from basic check ups, i would have spend 2800 dollars of my own money before it kicks in and starts covering roughly 85%. So now we are up to 5000 dollars if i needed to do something as minimal as seeing a specialist.

What if i needed a surgery? Well, my brother is dealing with lung cancer right now (does not smoke just in case you're wondering) and with insurance he has still spent over 100,000 dollars in five years (if i paid zero bills and no taxes it would take me two years of working over full time to have that).

How about my dad? A vietnam vet who still has a bullet in his back for fighting in our governments bullshit wars. Well, he needs about a dozen surgeries and even with two insurances, still cannot afford it. In fact my brother and i have to send him 800 dollars a month so he can afford his inhaler that they decided to take from 40 dollars to 800 dollars and is not covered by insurance. He lives on social security, 1400 dollars a month.

60% of full time working Americans make less than 30,000 a year (30k was middle class averages in 1988, since then costs of every day basic things have skyrocketed, sometimes as high 8000%). Do some basic math here and really ask if the issue is people just dont know how to spend their money. This is just so insulting to the working class of America. I own my own home, i make a decent wage, im good with savings but even with insurance, there's a good chance im fucked if i have a medical emergency.

BTW, i'd love to know what country you live in, because chances are you are able to take advantage of a health care system that makes sense and is not designed to pull every penny out of you and still not do what is needed. Maybe you live ina country where hospitals dont charge you 28 dollars for a tooth brush or 80 dollars for a bed pan that you most likely wont use... or 20 for a comb... Sadly this is the system over 300 million people in America have to deal with. Dont fucking tell us that the problem here is because 60% of workers who have to use 90% of their wages for basic monthly needs, simply spend money right.

P.S. id also like to point out (in case you are unaware) that the cocksucker who made these comments get his health coverage paid for by my taxes and all those other working people and does not pay for his phones or phone bills either. So hey, wanna have a conversation about personal spending and responsibility?

Have I been poor or low-income earner? Yes, and for most of my life. Most of my colleagues have been as well, coming from India, Philipines, and Pakistan. They put all of their savings into applying for residency, testing to get qualified, licencing exams and so on.

Cigarettes are taxed to hell in Canada. I'm not sure if you can find a pack for $5. And yeah, good luck with coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, lung cancer, COPD, etc...

@SOedipus: fair enough. And good for you and your peers for having the focus to save and stay the course.

But I think you are confusing willing poverty with genuine poverty. You're talking about residency and licensing so I am assuming medicine? I can only assume you are spending a lot of money and therefore willingly submitting yourself to poverty. That's a sacrifice, that's not really being poor. You're likely educated, which means you can probably get almost any decent-paying job you want if you took the time to apply for it and look.

now imagine you're working at some shithole restaurant and you made 7 bucks in tips and it's 2 AM. You going to take that money home and go to the bank in the morning that's 10 miles away (oh, and you don't have a car) to save up for some kid of yours that, let's face it, will end up just as crappily as you? or are you going to walk to the corner store right now and buy yourself a pack of smokes and a tall can? You have no safety net. You don't know who your dad is, your mom is a drunk, you dropped out of high school because you were pregant, you have a negative account balance...

I'm just saying, life is not always that easy. Some people work hard, and some people are worked hard.

Genuine poverty is what some of my coworkers were living in, and yet here they are. My response was based on what I experience and see everyday. Obviously, not every poor person is going out to buy iPhones. It's also very different in Canada in terms of health care. But I see this shit a lot. People coming in with their monthly drug card (well, not so much anymore since it's all online). A new kid is in the picture, or there's a belly on Jane Jones. Her older kid is pumped with ADHD meds, and holding on the newest iPhone. It's a sad trend and you feel sorry for the kids and angry at the parents. They have this sense of entitlement that the system owes them, and everything should be free. I grew up with some of these people and they started off better than I did. So it's very personal on my end, because I'm exposed to this daily and it's such a waste.

Would it have sounded better if that statement came from someone who went from rag to riches? There is truth to what he said and it applies to many people out there.

WOW.

Either you're a troll or a psychopath. You seem to have zero understanding that life is fucked up for a lot of people and no one lives these perfect little lives where every choice you make is the perfect choice and nothing ever happens that you cannot control. Because if someone makes a mistake... fuckem right? Why not allow every facet of health care and every system to exploit them at every chance right? Thats cool.

Im assuming youre still doing a residency, so what are you doing after that? What medical field do you want your career to be in?

Would it have sounded better if that statement came from someone who went from rag to riches?

Most people in that situation would not say something like this and the one's that would... most likely are the most egotistical and self absorbed people youll find.

*claps*

Thread should have just ended here. You said it all.

The Meloxicam I take for pain (arthritis) is not even $12 for a 30 day supply. My inhaler is almost $400 for a 30 day supply (which used to be under $100 and crept up until a change due to having to remove CFCs as a propellant). I love summer as it is cheaper as well as I am not freezing. Many places have reduced rates for people without insurance and generics are much cheaper than the name brand drugs.

When I encounter people that believe this I simply suggest to them that they should quit their job, and go live high on the hog with the privileged poor people that have it so good. It tends to end that stupid conversation quickly.

@Serraph105: In all seriousness, nothing makes me rage more than that conversation. It shows a complete lack of exposure to the situation, and then advocating policy measures based on the assumption that their own ignorance is reality.

Just wondering but if the topic is personal to you... shouldn't you be showing more sympathy and empathy? Since you presumably understand what they are going through. For example I'm a refugee and the recent wave of refugees in the Middle East and Africa have struck a chord with me because I have lived what they have lived through, so I feel for them more than the average person who hasn't had that experience. I would expect this effect to extend to other things.

This whole "**** you, got mine" attitude that I see a lot doesn't help anyone it just creates more stigma around being poor and marginalizes those who need help. God forbid someone who lives a shitty life and just wants to give their kid something to make them happy, in this case in iPhone (that can be got for cheap on contracts these days).

Imbecile.

American poverty is nothing compared to third world poverty. Someone poor wants to buy an iPhone instead of healthcare, that's there choice. If you're eligible for welfare hey take advantage and don't work. I'm eligible for an ebt but my morals won't let me get one.

Why didn't we use this same rhetoric against the 'white working class' during the election then?

'Oh you're out of jobs? Too bad, you know there are far more people out of work in Africa and East Asia? Who are you to complain that a lack of jobs has caused the decline of your small town? Quit complaining and realize it isn't that bad!!!!'

See how shit your line of thinking is?

@HoolaHoopMan: America is better than that! A stagnant life is no good. Someone poor should strive to be better. But when the government pays for your home and food, people get lazy. I don't know how to lift their spirit. Like hey go find a job society needs you! It is pretty negative how I first presented it; hey you can't find a job, whatever.

@playmynutz: The American government does not just pay for your home and food. That is not how welfare works. Go tell the people living in cardboard boxes under the bridge that they can just have the government buy them a house instead. The stories you have heard about the lazy welfare queens are not even close to reality.

There are two equations and one added point that tell us this mentality is bullshit.

1. Not enough jobs.

2. Not enough well paying jobs.

Even if we were to suggest that our taxes going back to us the way they are supposed to, creates lazy people (which every single study and example shows the exact opposite, so lets try to work in the realm of reality here) we still have 1 and 2 as a problem. No matter how much you guys try with this "try harder!" nonsense, you can never get around the very simple fact that wages for 60% of our country are roughly the same as the middle class in the 1980s, with every day living costs going up as high as 8000% since that same period...... maybe you're the one who should strive to be a bit better at math.

Most people on welfare have jobs. The jobs pay shit and the welfare helps supplement their income when it comes to housing and food. Also, it was indicated that when those in poverty are given a certain amount, they spend it on necessities in order to alleviate their poverty.

Education costs money.

Driving costs money.

Housing costs money

College costs money

Trade schools cost money

Cell phones are vital and cost money.

Food costs money.

EVERYTHING COSTS MONEY.

And that saying that money can't buy happiness? BULLSHIT. Money does make you happy but not for the reasons you think. It makes you happy because you have an income to satisfy your wants and needs and especially your needs.

You talk about stagnation but removing or limiting welfare causes stagnation for those in poverty.

TC sum'd it up with the pic, but I was gonna say: I was not aware Iphones cost between 6,000-9000$

OMG, just tell someone to work harder and get a job.....it's all so clear to me now. The answer has been right in front of us all along. People aren't poor because of a myriad of socioeconomic and cultural factors, it's because they choose to be. I finally get it now!

@kod: I visit the hood all the time and see it. Yeah my experience is meaningless compared to statistics that sample the population with a usual 5% chance of error. Emphasizing statistics have a possibility to be incorrect.

@mark1974: Homelessness is a doozy where you can't even work without a permanent address. I live next to the projects and know people there. They don't pay rent and get a ebt card.

The people (from different cities) I talk to who live off the government act the same way. The man is keeping me down. I want to turn my life around. *rips a crack hit* No they are not all like that but it's just my experience.

I'll stick to my original post. You want government help then take complete advantage. My chances of becoming homeless is as good as anyone. I can easily blow my rent money and end up on the streets.

And when you "visit da hood" are you paying attention to jobs in the area? Are you questioning local politicians on if they are being funded the same way a non-"hood" area would be funded with the same population? What is it you see exactly? People incapable of moving out of area's that were once acceptable to middle class, but due to the shifting of revenues has created "hoods" and now many of those people cant financially get out? Do you see that..... maybe they should not have to? Maybe they are not the problem here?

NNNNAAAAAHHHH

Have fun visiting the hood though.

Other worthwhile questions: Do you know these people? Not just on a superficial level, but are you friends with any of them? Do you have repeated conversations with them over months/years and understand what their lives are like? What kind of pressures and and opportunities they have?

Not gonna lie, it simply sounds like hes a weekend warrior (coke, dope, etc). There's not many good reasons to have to go to these "hoods" he speaks of unless its for dope or friends/family and id think if it was friends or family he would have a different view of things. I mean, i could be wrong here, but it does not take much understanding to see that 200 jobs for 10,000 people is a fucking problem. That the first schools (sometimes only) to get public funding cut are always in these areas, and generally have higher population of students, and then of course the drug war where we force people to do what they need to do to feed their family and then arrest them, make them felons, ensure they will never get a decent job, etc (while also at the time time preaching some fake libertarianism or conservatism or freedom).

If he is a weekend warrior, i suggest he looks around his own neighborhood. I tend to go to the white picket fence areas because there is no police and just as much dope.

@kod: I took my neighbor to the projects to go check on her baby. Sometimes I drop her off their and she tells me about life for her family and friends on welfare. She's my crackhead/prostitute friend I've known for over a year. I live in a low income neighborhood. There is a threshold of how much income you can make to live here.

@mattbbpl: It is usually one of my hood friends who then introduces me to all their friends.

I don't do drugs.

Edit: Putting my people on blast... I said enough!

So if this is a norm for you then why do you reach the conclusion that the issue that really needs to be addressed here is people being "lazy"? Most people, even those on welfare, simply want to be able to work full time, pay their bills, feed their family, have some kind of savings, etc. This is not an unacceptable request in the richest nation the earth has ever seen. Its not even a request at this point, its a demand, it needs to happen our country depends on it happening. The people you're attempting to make sound this very insulting way, tend to be the most honest and hard working and caring people you'll ever meet.

Even your crackhead prostitute friend is probably generally a good person and would probably much rather have a good job than be sucking cock.... i wont even say "good job", ill say a decent job, something that actually pays the bills. And this is just assumption simply because of how common this is, but the parts of her that you wouldn't consider "good" are most likely simply defense mechanism and survival in a country that declares they care, but never actually demonstrates it.

Also id like to point out that many of the people you talk about simply not wanting to work, are probably people who did but figured out that they are simply working to be in debt. That working full time to pay 40% of your bills cannot last. So they start selling shit off to the side while they are working, attempting to do both, but then one day it hits them that they are working for a company who would put a bullet in their brain for a 0.00001% tax return and its not even beginning to pay the bills (you need to use that weekly check as start up money basically) and they can go out and very easily make a weeks pay in a day. And be able to provide for their families and give them some kind of decent life.

Jason Chaffetz gets his healthcare, and his phones, for free from taxpayer dollars. I expect nothing less than complete hypocrisy, and it is an extremely simple answer as to why these assholes do not give people real relief, because they require none themselves....

He's not wrong? Don't bring out graphs "bububu the insurance costs so much more" that's a non sequitur, this argument is about bad choices. I'm have no sympathy for someone literally at a food pantry who pulls out an iPhone.

And you all know it's true there have been enough jokes told over years about this stuff.... Hell the 2008 housing crash was exactly about these bad choices, Banks made the bad choices of giving loans to people they knew couldn't pay, and the poor made the bad choice of getting those loans when they knew for a fact they couldn't pay.

In 2017 Economic differences in America come down to choices.

Found change? I just ran by a convenience store selling a single pack of Marlboro cigarettes for 7 dollars. Sorry, but 7 dollars is not found change, especially if someone is buying more than 1 pack a week. Also, if someone thinks they are going to starve, so they might as well plunk down 7 dollars in change on cigarettes, they are an idiot, and I do not see why you would defend the stupid behavior of stupid people. 7 dollars could buy you thousands of calories worth of Mcdonalds Chicken Mcnuggets, for example.

I have seen pics of stores in NY selling a pack for $12 or more. Prices Of Cigarettes By State

lmao

Ugh, those pesky facts!

To be fair, I wasn't aware health insurance was that much either.

@plageus900: Mine is. It costs me personally over 6k a year in premiums not counting any other out of pocket expenses such as co pays and deductibles. That's what it costs if I don't use it at all. My employer matches that for another 6k.