Christie: Make $6,000 a Year? You Can Afford Your Own Health Insurance

Want to know what happens if the Republican plan to end Medicaid and turn it into a block grant program to be dispersed by each state how it chooses actually happens. You’ll get states like New Jersey, where their governor is currently cutting the eligibility for the program drastically.

Like, to people who make less than $6000 a year.

Yes, apparently if you make at least $118 a week, or more than 25 percent of the federal poverty level, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie believes you should be able to afford your own health insurance, too. This new threshold isn’t just cutting back the number of eligible people a little — it’s literally dropping almost everyone out of the pool.

NJ.com reports:

[P]arents in a family of three earning more than $422 a month, or $5,000 a year, would be disqualified for earning too much money, according to a document summarizing the proposal. Currently the income cut-off is $24,600 for a family of three.

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who sponsored the federal law that enabled the state to create FamilyCare, an off-shoot of Medicaid for working poor families, was critical of the proposed changes.

“The state will pay a heavy price in many ways if these cuts are approved,” Pallone said Friday in a prepared statement. “The costs won’t go away. They will just be shifted to emergency rooms and uncompensated care, which we all pay for.”

Christie’s administration declares that the move, which is expected to kick over 90,000 residents off of Medicaid, is necessary in order to protect care for children, the disabled and the elderly. But it’s not all doom and gloom. After all, they only need to try and stay healthy for three years, and then hopefully health care reform’s public exchange will kick in and they can have medical insurance then — you know, if the Republicans haven’t repealed it by then.

Like, to people who make less than $6000 a year.

Yes, apparently if you make at least $118 a week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie believes you should be able to afford your own health insurance, too. This new threshold isn’t just cutting back the number of eligible people a little — it’s literally dropping almost everyone out of the pool.

NJ.com reports:

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who sponsored the federal law that enabled the state to create FamilyCare, an off-shoot of Medicaid for working poor families, was critical of the proposed changes.

“The state is effectively telling these families to wait until 2014 to get coverage again,” U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Friday. “Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a waiver for getting cancer.”

Thank goodness the new exchanges don’t reject people with pre-existing conditions. Who knows how ill people will get with no health care but emergency room visits for three years.

Read more: health policy, medicaid

Photo by Hoboken Condos.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Martha E.

10:17PM PDT on Aug 2, 2011

The man is truly without conscience.

send a green star

Everett L W.

2:32PM PDT on Jul 23, 2011

Lloyd,

Does the phrase, "rhetorical question", have a place in your vocabulary?

Doug A.

1:53PM PDT on Jul 23, 2011

What you have here is another, out of touch with reality, Republican who does not have a single clue about the daily economics of the average person. First the bastards want to do away with the minimum wage, then they want to cut taxes for the rich, which will only screw up the government debt even more,and now they want to play games with the national debt like some kind of spoiled rich kid who wants to take his ball and go home if he can not have his way. If we elect any of these morons after this we then will get exactly what we deserve. $6,000 a year would not buy you three meals a day at Mac Donalds, let alone keep you insured.He must be another Bush Republican who bought his college degree, if he can't even do elementary school math.

1:42PM PDT on Jul 23, 2011

Marie Antoinette

11:35AM PDT on Jul 23, 2011

Who was it that said, "Let them eat cake."

Caralien S.

9:22AM PDT on Jul 6, 2011

Christie spends more than $6,000 per year to keep his girlish figure.

Glenn D.

1:37AM PDT on Jul 3, 2011

You poor blighters , it's a bad system you've got over there . Dave T is probably right , the pollies are paid bribe monies from big business , very sad and very hard to change . We have a half a percent of our wage taken out to pay for a pretty good free hospital service open to all citizens , rich or poor, it's not perfect but heaps better than your system of dog eat dog .You guys need to become a bit socialist for the greater good of the people , this capitalist ideal is not working although if you're on this site you are probably that way inclined . You're in a democratic society so vote the greedy ones out , good luck from OZ

Tami K.

7:22AM PDT on Jul 2, 2011

Let's see how he would do with that private school he so vehemently supported recently if he lived on $6,000 annually. Oh wait, that is about 3 or 4 flights on his fancy helicopter the state finances.

Patricia Y.

10:10AM PDT on Jul 1, 2011

Is this guy for real? he is so out of touch with the real world it is scary. Let's do a experiment--let him live on $6,000 a year and see what he thinks of it.