I HATE how antivaxxers jump on everyone who got the vaccine and then happens to get cancer, have a heart attack or stroke, just anything - and they gleefully call them idiots for falling for the deep state or whatever their demented minds conjures up. I'm gonna start again with him and try to be less annoyed. It will help a LOT if I don't watch his videos! I think he's one of those people (hello Tiffany!) who like to make things up to sound a certain way but never really want to give you the whole unvarnished truth. Sometimes I think they don't even know what the truth is because they live in a confabulation... well, I was gonna start again. I'm upset with myself that I let him bother me so much initially.
Anyway, I looked it up and Wisconsin is one of the bonehead states that refused to expand Medicaid, even with the federal gov't picking up 100% of the cost! My state has lost a few rural hospitals that went under because of so many unpaid bills (because they don't want any freeloading minorities or some such crackpot reasoning - well, lack thereof). I lose a lot of sleep worrying about the vitriol in our polarized country but I need to let that go too.
Boring part so you can skip: They invented Obamacare thinking that everybody would get Medicaid (free) who didn't qualify by their income to get government help on the premium. So there's a bizarre lower cut off. Like if you make, say, $25,000 a year, the govt will pay 95% of your Obamacare premium for you. BUT if you make less than that, the gov't will pay ZERO of your premium for you (because they planned for you to get Medicaid which is free).
But then our rightwing Supreme Court threw out the requirement that states provide Medicaid up to the lower limit ($25k or whatever) [never mind that it would have been free!!!] -- so those very poor people are left with having to pay the huge premium with no help whatsoever!! And it's often $600 a month for one person - something like that. AND the Republicans won't let Congress close that loophole so a whole lot of very poor people have no healthcare coverage whatsoever! This is true for 10 states, almost all in the Deep South (because of rightwing/antivax stupidity) but Wisconsin is the midwestern outlier! The other 2 non-southern states are Wyoming (libertarian cowboys) and Kansas (almost southern and a rightwing stronghold).
Wherre's my ativan?!?!?
ETA: I wrote all that before I saw AlwaysScience's great post so sorry if it sounds like I ignored her.
---
In Wisconsin since he lives with his girlfriend her income prevents him from qualifying for Wisconsin Medicaid. The monthly income cutoff there is $1,700.
Wow - that's shocking! I didn't think you even had to count a girlfriend's income (only your actual spouse).
Anyway, I live in Mississippi - and would you believe that no matter how poor you are, even ZERO income, you cannot get Medicaid - UNLESS you are under the age of 18 or you have children in your household under 18 that you are the primary caretaker of. Oh and one other exception: pregnant women.
I doubt any other state is as cruel as that. And bear in mind, by some measure, we're the poorest state in the union, 39% African American (and there's your reason, ladies and gents). I'm so disgusted with these people, my people I guess, but I don't think there's a remedy. I mean, I could move, but I have a lot of family and friends and I'm not poor. Miserable maybe, but not poor.
---
Oh shit - I wasn't gonna do this, but yet another thing about Chris' story doesn't make sense to me:
"He doesn't know when they will move to CA but he'll be treated at UCLA."
Why stay and e-beg for 100s of thousands of dollars when he could just go ahead and move, stay with his dad, and get this wonderful Stanford treatment on California's Medicaid? when he doesn't qualify for Wisconsin's?
And he says he doesn't qualify because he lives with his girlfriend?? Does that mean that every person in his state who has any kind of roommate would have to count their roommate's income (and there not qualify for Medicaid)?
Damn, man, MOVE and visit her occasionally. It's your LIFE we're talking about.
OR - and this is very simple - say that you broke up with her and she's not your girlfriend any more but you're simply "roommates" -- or rent a frickin' room from someone and have that separate address and the medical expenses would outweigh the cost of that room many times over!!!
But no.... Instead of doing something logical, he wants people to dig into their savings and send him money to save him. Ughhhh. Someone tell me to go away. I've managed to quit watching him, but here I am, getting worked up, just reading about his flakey grifty decision making.
Yes, it was so confusing and heartbreaking. You are so right, we all deserve to know the truth.