Former McCain adviser nervous about moving into the individual health insurance market he once touted.
Former McCain adviser nervous about moving into the individual health insurance market he once touted.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior policy adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign, “remains unemployed — and his COBRA health coverage is running out,” the Washington Post reports. “Irony of ironies, it gets worse. Holtz-Eakin, who is about to start shopping for insurance on the individual market, is 51. And he has one of those pesky ‘preexisting conditions’ that insurance companies often cite in denying coverage”:
Holtz-Eakin said he’s been paying about $1,000 a month to extend the private health insurance he received on McCain’s campaign through the government’s COBRA program, but that will expire in a few months. This is the first time in his life he has not had employer-provided health coverage. “I worry about where I go next in the way many Americans do,” he said.
During the campaign, Holtiz-Eakin fervently defended McCain’s proposal to shift more Americans out of their employer-sponsored coverage and into the individual health insurance market. “The key to real reform is to restore control over our health-care system to the patients themselves,” Holtz-Eakin said in August. “Instead of only getting it in the employer market, you would get it regardless of your source of insurance. And you get the same amount whether you’re rich or poor, $5,000 for every working family.”
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Welcome to my world, wingnuts.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:53 amAnd this ahole can afford it. What about the millions who cannot?
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:56 amKarma works in funny and wonderful ways.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:56 amThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
I don’t believe he will find coverage – and he knows that as well.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:59 amPeople with less serious conditions can’t get coverage – or if they can find it, the cost is prohibitive — in his case, he needs continuous life-sustaining medication.
Holtz-Eakin, however, doesn’t seem to have changed his position — he knows he can afford whatever it costs in premiums — I suppose he has yet to realize is that he can’t get coverage, period, no matter what he can afford.
Move to Canada?
PAYBACK is a beeyotch, isn’t it Duggie.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:02 amMaybe you could go lobby your former master and beg him to reconsider his negative stance on a public plan.
Compare”
and
Under the plan he once expoused, the poor would have to come up with $7,000 per year to maintain comparable health insurance. Someone working for the federal minimum wage would have to work 6 months of the year just to pay for insurance. Then would come other priorities, like food, clothing, shelter.
Another way to look at it, $7000/year = $583/month. $583/$7.25 = 80. A minimum wage earner would work 80 hours per month just to pay for his or her health insurance.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:02 amBoo Hoo.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:06 amTo be fair, he thought McCain would win, he would be named an advisor, and he could get some sweet sweet federally backed health insurance.
McCain’s plan was a disaster and is indicative of how the GOP views any and every problem we face: tax cuts and vouchers. Doesn’t matter if your kid’s an idiot (vouchers!), your health insurance company quadruples its rates at will (tax breaks!) or crippling national debt has lead to crippling inflation and you can’t afford to buy a loaf of bread (tax cut!), it’s an empty, politic solution to all of life’s problems.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:06 amGood morning, campers
Payback is a b!tch, isn’t it, Dougie?
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:07 amYeah, that “$5000 that every working family” would get would cover only about 5 months in Holtz-Eakin’s Cobra payments… There’s real piece of mind for you…
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:08 amI see that you refrained from naming Dougie’s pre-existing condition but I guess that it is self-evident . . . cranio-anal inversion.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:08 amRU says;
I should have read your post before I posted my own.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:10 amGreat minds think alike. :-)
Maybe he should go find some crappy job he hates that offers health insurance. That’s what everybody else has to do.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:10 amLooks to me like his karma ran over his dogma.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:10 amWhat goes around, comes around. You can almost taste the irony in this one.
Who wants to bet that some insurance company finds a loophole to provide insurance to this loser at minimal cost just to keep his story off the front page?
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 amKarma is a bithc
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:13 amIt’s called a beard. Some men, and republican women, prefer to have one.
http://images.google.com/images?q=Douglas%20Holtz-Eakin&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:13 amYeh, but he wasnt unemployed in the picture now as he?
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:14 amALLL my heart pumps peanut butter for you >>>>>>NOT>>>>>..
maybe now you just might see what a complete fool you have been.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 amand hate to say it i hope you pay for it with bankrupt’s and poor heath just as millions of others has.
rald84 says:
————————————————————–
I like how TP highlighted the fact he’s unemployed by choosing a photo where he’s unshaven and scruffy
=======================================================
I never saw him clean shaven during the campaign. That is the style of the wingnuts.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:17 amFred’s comment says it all. Even if Eakin can get covered due to his age and pre existing health problems, he can afford a $10,000 deductable and an obonxiously inflated monthly premium. Most americans cannot.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:17 amDr. Hussein Matt says
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:13 am
It’s called a beard. Some men, and republican women, prefer to have one.
____________________________________________________________
That is so not a beard. That’s a few days’ worth of stubble. A real beard is full, soft, lush, neatly trimmed, and unlikely to scare a woman off.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:18 amUmm… Doesn’t this guy have money? I mean, he probably has a lot more money than the average American. Many Americans are losing their homes because they are struggling to pay bills. This guy has much more than many others.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:19 amMaybe Uncle John can borrow him some money, I hear his trophy wife is loaded….
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:19 amIf rald84 had seen Eakin in any of his multiple appearances during the election and after…he always appears with a multi day beard growth and dark circles under his eyes. Take off your wingnut zealot glasses.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:20 amNow it’s time for McCain to lose HIS government health insurance.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:21 amNever fear, Holtz-Eakin will be employed before his COBRA runs out. Once employed and receiving health he will continue to advance the Republican stance—screw Americans.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:21 amjbrantow says: @26.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:23 amOf course he does, it’s from the late night puppy sacrifices these right-wing goons hold to keep the status-quo. And now with the GOP falling into tatters, he’s finding out all that nonsense is just useless cruelty.
I was going to suggest that Holtz-Eakin get a job with Sarah Palin, but then I realized that Sarah doesn’t have a job, either. And then I wondered what she’s doing for health insurance. Does a “retired” governor get some of that socialist health coverage from the State of Alaska?
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:23 amSince Eakin was such a mccain cheerleader…..I challenge him to mccains health care proposal…….give him a voucher for $5000.00, go out and try to get a fully covered health insurance policy with only that amount. Mccain sait every American would easily be able to achieve this. So Mr. Eakin…prove it. (and no using your personal wealth to add to that five thousand)
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:23 amDoesn’t this guy have money? -=PD=-
Oh, he feels entitled to employer provided insurance even though not employed, meybe?
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:23 am… ladies, i must know your opinion:
is that 1st-week-of-growing-a-beard look really attractive?
i suppose, somewhat, on some… but i don’t get it, at all…
especially knowing what that stubble does to a woman’s face
after any kind of heavy kissing!
just grow the beard already! … it’s a lazy look, to me…
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 amaqu@28, Yeah, can’t the Repugs find a place to put this guy? After all, Bush pushed all kinds of lackeys in key positions. Micheal Brown for FEMA. Monica Goodling in the DOJ… I’m sure there is a postion for this guy. After he did such a bang-up on the McCain campaign!
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 amLibertyLover says:
Yeah, that “$5000 that every working family” would get would cover only about 5 months in Holtz-Eakin’s Cobra payments… There’s real piece of mind for you…
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 am—————————————————————
I was always hoping that candidate Obama would point this inconvenient dose of reality out during the presidential debates.
Oh the irony……
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 amK Street Whore says:
Why is it that republicans are given a pass when they flip-flop, but, Democrats are instantly smeared?
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:27 am—————————————————————
Bah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…..I fixed your typo, you idiot!
What most modern conservatives seem to lack is empathy. That’s why it has to happen to them before they understand a problem. Orin Hatch’s daughter has diabetes, so he gets into stem cells. Nancy Reagan’s husband gets alzhiemer’s and all of a sudden, she changes her religion to pro stem cell.
This bastard couldn’t fathom the problem until it happened to him.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:27 amYou can’t read either? Your man didn’t flip flop, he just got caught in the trap that he says doesn’t exist.
Take a class. Learn the meaning of the word “irony”
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:27 amHmm, the spectacle of a Republican up a Republican-health-care-creek without a Republican paddle… Welcome to the NFL, dude.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:28 amgummitch says:
I was going to suggest that Holtz-Eakin get a job with Sarah Palin, but then I realized that Sarah doesn’t have a job, either. And then I wondered what she’s doing for health insurance. Does a “retired” governor get some of that socialist health coverage from the State of Alaska?
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 am————————————————————-
I bet Sarah receives some type of State or Federal socialist dollars for her special needs child.
K street heretic: “Why is it that democrats are given a pass when they flip-flop, but, Republicans are instantly smeared?”
Why do moronic conservatives have such bad memories. You were probably laughing it up during the 2004 election, a-hole, when the media went with the “I was for it before I was against it” thing with John Kerry. They raked him over the coals and you know it.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 amK Street Whore says:
Pay attention to the threads, generally speaking, Democrats get smeared worse for being spineless.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:30 amIt’s just more noticeable when we nail right-wingers to the wall for waiting until the last second to jump ship on what was obviously a bad idea.
On when they jump ship.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:30 amI find trolls have VERY selective memory. In fact, they try to pretend the 8 Bush years didn’t exist. The ‘Tea-Baggers’, ‘912ers’ seemed to have forgotten how Bush and Co. got us in this mess. Must be nice to be in a fog of denial.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:32 amK street hick doesn’t understand the content or context of this posting. Shocking.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:34 amHe should be bloody nervous. On the other hand, he can just do like I’ve done, no insurance whatsoever for years. Haven’t had a physical in 12 years, myself. Could be a walking dead man, right? I go on Medicare next year if the bastards don’t screw THAT up.
What a country.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:34 am… ladies, i must know your opinion: is that 1st-week-of-growing-a-beard look really attractive?
I am only a lowly male but I’d like to weigh in on the question you posed.
Dougie’s facial hair (and sunken eye sockets) scream “weekend bender”.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:34 am“Instead of only getting it in the employer market, you would get it regardless of your source of insurance.”
Let’s be fair–nobody can deny that we’re all getting it from the insurance companies, regardless of our source of insurance.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:35 amtom says:
I am only a lowly male but I’d like to weigh in on the question you posed.
Dougie’s facial hair (and sunken eye sockets) scream “weekend bender”.Tom, I’m going to go one further, and say “any day that ends in Y”
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:36 amdixie @15
LOL at that one!!
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:36 amCan you imagine if it was the 1930’s today…? The current crop of republicons would be whining about soup kitchens and bread lines.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:37 amWhen asked about this quandary, Sen. McCain said, ‘Doug who?’…
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:39 amtom says:
Dougie’s facial hair (and sunken eye sockets) scream “weekend bender”.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:39 am————————————————————-
A weekend filled with a bottomless bottle of booze, blow and hookers will do that to you.
was = were
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:40 amThis guy’s ugliness is not external.
Looking at this as a male, I consider Sarah Palin and Michele Bachman to be quite attractive physically. However, their political ideology is very ugly. Their callous disregard for the truth is very ugly. Their callous disregard for how normal people have to struggle is very ugly. Their selfish regard for their own narrow interests is very ugly. I’ll take for a politician representing me an extremely ugly woman with empathy for others, intelligence, and willingness to serve the public.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:44 amHolz-Eakin simply needs to follow the Republican plan and die quickly!
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:44 amI have to comment on a post a troll made earlier. He slammed us for using a photo where the guy looks ‘Scruffy’. It made me laugh. Literally. Remember Obama’s ‘Too-Causual’ look? Or Michelle’s ‘gasp’ bare arms? Everything the Fisrt Couple wear is scrutinized. Unreal.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:44 amI notice the his neck is not scruffy, too bad Rald84 doesnt have the visual acumen to see the look Eakin is sporting is intentional,
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:45 amI hope the medical industry performs their standard wallet-ectomy on this dude. That thing is so big, it must be a tumor. Millions of people lose 90% their life savings during the last 10% of their lives.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:49 amwell, it’s good to know some of you guys feel that way too…
and, trooll @4, that photo at the ‘preexisting conditions’ link shows the same look…
i’d say he’s going for the scruffy look – if not for the expensive suit & tie he’s wearing…
but seriously, speaking for myself and surely other ladies – clean shaved face and smooth filed fingernails (do NOT clip them)…
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:52 amI thought Republicans believe that insurance isn’t necessary. That if people just had a medical savings account they could pay for their own treatment. I guess this guy found out in a hurry when he needed major surgery from a car crash that nobody can afford to pay for that kind of treatment. Which reminds me, which troll was it that said people wouldn’t buy health insurance they’d be better off to pay the penalty and buy the insurance when they needed it? Disaster rarely shows up in such a tidy package.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:54 am…oh… if not clean shaven, then a nice soft beard is fun…
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:59 amAt least the health insurance industry now considers conservatism a “pre-existing condition”.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:00 amIrony is a pre-existing condition.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:00 amHe has medical insurance, its called the emergancy room!
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 amUncle Ho @#13
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 amLots of room in the big tent for minds that think alike!!!
Yes, welcome to my world. First thing you’ll notice about my world is that no matter how many Democrats I vote for and get elected, I still suffer from Republican health care. It’s frustrating, but you’ll get used to it. Imagine you’re a baseball fan and live in Chicago.
Next, you’ll want to write a little thank you to all of the doctors you can no longer afford and have them send you medical records over to your new affordable doctor. You might die before this transfer occurs, because this is the lowest priority in any doctor’s office, but you’ll get used to that.
After waiting two or four weeks for your new patient appointment with the affordable doc, I hope you remembered to bring cash or your checkbook because you’re going to have to pay up front. Oh, and get used to ALL office staff at ALL medical appointments always making you repeat the phrase “I don’t have insurance, I pay cash”. At first you’ll find it humiliating, because of the way ALL office staff will look at you and probably repeat “What insurance did you say” and this will probably be in a busy waiting room, but again you’ll get used to it.
Make sure you always ask about cash discounts because it’s now your job to negotiate all payments and look out for yourself, and as I’m sure you know you absolutely don’t deserve what you don’t ask for. Isn’t that the Republican way?
Remember to ask about cash discounts at every opportunity. Say you go to a lab for blood work, you have to ask them about cash discounts, and perhaps they even have a discount card you can sign up for, again, humiliating when you have to do this in a busy waiting area. When you go to have a prescription filled, ask about cash discounts, when you go for X-rays and such, ask about cash discounts. You’ll get the hang of it. Eventually you’ll just have the feeling overwhelm you that, how shall I say it… you’re poor. You might think you’re still a middle class American, but in the eyes of the medical community, you’re poor. But you know what, eventually you’ll accept it, and this stuff won’t be humiliating anymore; it will just be part of who you are.
Welcome Brother!
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:03 amWhen my COBRA runs out, I’m toast. No insurance company will ever consider me, let alone offer me a policy. I’m not the least bit confident the health insurance “reform” will do me any good. How many people over 40 don’t have any pre-existing conditons? Basically, the American way is “you’re on your own” from the onset of your first pre-existing condition until you’re eligible for Medicare. Many don’t make it.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 amSic ‘im, Karma, sic ‘im!!!!
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:10 amIf only he was allowed to buy insurance accross state lines like the republicans want, then he could purchase a plan from a state that has robust regulations against medical underwriting for individual policies…
…Until all the insurers moved to the state with the loosest regulations in the nation.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 amWhy doesn’t this jackass just reach into his republic plan for heatlhcare reform, namely, his “health savings account”?
Certainly he saved tens of thousands of dollars in his HSA so that he could cover the 1000+/month premiums, didn’t he?
I have no sympathy for fools like him and the millions of other fools who follow his republic footsteps. In fact, I wish things on them all that I can’t say in words, because I would be banned if I did.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:17 am@Charmed #73,
Minor point, but HSAs can’t be used to pay insurance premiums. He can however use his 10s of thousands to pay for his healthcare expenses. I’d like to see how long it would take before that well ran dry.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:20 amThis is no problem. He just needs to go to any emergency room if he needs care. And, on top of that, he could push for tort reform and the right to shop in other states. What’s the problem?
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:21 amUse your bootstraps.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:24 amWell, well, well…
Let’s see if he really believes all that rhetorical GOPshite he’s been shovelling all these years.
Just because you can afford health insurance doesn’t mean that you will get a policy.
There is that pesky little “pre-existing condition” crap that did not even “pre-exist”
until after Gingrich and his demolition gang screwed up the health insurance universe with their approval of “for-profit” status in the mid-90’s.
Good luck, pal.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:27 amMy heart really really really goes out to this guy…
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:28 amOK, it’s back already.
katy says
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 am
… ladies, i must know your opinion:
is that 1st-week-of-growing-a-beard look really attractive?
___________________________________________________________
No. I prefer men either grow it or shave it. Who wants to kiss scratchy stubble? Give me a smooth face or a soft beard anytime.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:31 amHmm, maybe there IS poetic justice. However, if some conservative think tank doesn’t employ this guy just to avoid the embarrassment, he will become a powerful advocate of the public option. Reformed Republicans make very good democrats.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:36 am@Fred – it doesn’t matter if he can afford it or not. Even if some company wrote him a policy, when it came time to file a significant claim, the company would find some reason to deny it. You can pay through the nose for useless coverage, or you can “go naked”.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:51 amIt’s true. My wife and I pay 1500/month for insurance that deny’s every claim. We fight them every time we use our insurance.
It’s like it’s become automatic now to challenge every claim and then pay it if they can’t get out of it.
I actually handle all claims through my lawyer now. An additional cost but I can’t get caught without insurance.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:56 amThe chickens came home to roost, didn’t they Holtz-Eakin?
I have a feeling a lot of teabaggers will be having the same “ah ha” moments in the coming months and years.
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:10 pmFred: “My wife and I pay 1500/month for insurance that deny’s every claim.”
It’s horrible. My wife and I pay for a 3-person package including my son and our premiums were just raised for about the fifth time in the last few years.
Our premium is now $1775 per month not counting out-of-pocket expenses which are considerable. The reason for the latest increase – I just turned 60 and my son had a pretty bad accident earlier in the year.
As long as we let corporations call the tune, this will continue.
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:10 pmI’m not advocating violence, but I have to wonder about a country so armed and dangerous as ours continuing a policy where loved ones lose their lives because of insurance.
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:15 pmGeez… wasn’t someone complaining about the ‘bad picture’ of Holtz-Eakin TP used here???
Hey… at least Admin had the decency to airbrush that perpetual brown spot off the tip of Doug’s nose…
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:17 pmKarma is a mother there Holtz. Bet he is for the public option now.
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:19 pmjb says:
use your jockstraps
Fixed it for you.
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 pma thank you is not necessary.
(:-D)
@ 15.dixie blood says: Looks to me like his karma ran over his dogma. November 2nd, 2009 at 10:10 am
Damn it, Dixie, you didn’t have to say that – made me snort my coffee and now my boogers are gonna come out funny for a week.
Ya nailed it though.
Welcome to reality, Mr. Holtz-Eakin, hope you get to enjoy it long enough for some sense to rub off on you.
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:51 pmFred and NinersFan–That’s what I don’t understand about the people screaming against hcr with a robust public option. My insurance is a little more than $100/mo. with $30/doctors’ fees and prescriptions. I’m retired from a state job with a large pool of employees that drives prices down. My daughter is covered by the same company that covers me and she pays $14.00/mo, with the same payments for doctors’ visits and prescriptions. This is the basic concept of the public option, but millions of people don’t want it. I’m fighting for the robust public option so that rates will decrease for everyone. I guess selfishness is a better motivator for some than altruism. I just don’t see the reward not gets by not caring about others.
November 2nd, 2009 at 3:35 pmLast sentence—I just don’t see the reward one gets by not caring about others.
November 2nd, 2009 at 3:36 pmmajii, where do you live? Sounds great.
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:32 pmmajii says:
My insurance is a little more than $100/mo.
Mine, $750/mo….do anybody really think that I even use $750 worth of medical services a year?
I don’t even come close to that.
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:45 pmWell Douglas, just like the right wing fringe of America always says (you know the people you represent!)….
GET A JOB LOSER! GRAB YOUR BOOTSTRAPS & DO SURGERY ON YOURSELF A-HOLE! BUY YOUR OWN INSURANCE!!!!!!
Isn’t that nice, Douglas? No one cares about you except those that understand the need for A CHEAP PUBLIC OPTION for people like yourself. Bah hahahahahahaha! Poor Dougy.
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:48 pmOnce again pointing out the difference between Republicans and Democrats: Republicans don’t exhibit sympathy for other humans, therefor they don’t support government programs until one of their own is affected.
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:13 pmFor example: Republicans are against stem cell research, until Reagan gets alzheimers. Suddenly Nancy Reagan is a big supporter.
And another: Republicans are against gun control, until Jim Brady gets shot. Suddenly there’s a Brady Bill to limit certain kinds of gun ownership.
And another: Republicans are agains gay marriage, until Dick Cheney’s daughter wants to marry a woman and suddenly he’s got libertarian views on marriage.
And another: Joe Wilson voted against government funding for H1N1 vaccine programs until his wife got sick. Suddenly the Obama administration isn’t doing enough.
It’s becoming clear that the difference between a Republican and a Democrat is, at the bottom, simply empathy.
Restitution will be a maternal fornicator, won’t it?
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm