No Health Insurance Is Hard. No Phone? Unthinkable.

[rangerrebew]

No Health Insurance Is Hard. No Phone? Unthinkable.

By JACK HEALYMARCH 11, 2017
 
Anthony and Shari Hunter at home with their daughter Valetta, 4. They cannot afford health insurance, but they pay $100 a month for cellphone service. Credit Kim Raff for The New York Times

SPRINGVILLE, Utah — As the health care debate thundered away in Washington, Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah stirred up a social media squall the other day by suggesting that uninsured Americans should invest in their own health care “rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love.”

Here in Mr. Chaffetz’s solidly Republican district, one of those uninsured Americans watched the viral CNN interview on — what else? — her cellphone. Not a new iPhone, though, but a Samsung with a cracked screen, one that Shari Hunter and her husband, Anthony, bought with their tax refunds two years ago.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/11/us/health-insurance-cellphone-chaffetz.html?_r=0

[EC]

Boo-frigging-hoo.

Bunch of cases selected to be heart tugging - and all of them crap.

[jmyrlefuller]

I specifically remember President Obama making this exact same argument when he was pushing people to enroll in the exchanges.

So when Obama makes the argument, he's right, but when a Republican does, it's heresy!

[rangerrebew]

Boo-frigging-hoo.

Bunch of cases selected to be heart tugging - and all of them crap.

I can see the other side - to a point.  If you don't have a job or are honestly looking to work, having no phone could certainly be a hindrance.  But if you have a job, or attain one, the other side position falls apart.

[EC]

I can see the other side - to a point.  If you don't have a job or are honestly looking to work, having no phone could certainly be a hindrance.  But if you have a job, or attain one, the other side position falls apart.

Which would have been a valid - and interesting - article. But the cases here? Take the first guy. Needs a phone to get pictures of his kids during the day? Where's the bloody call center he's working at? The Antarctic?

[mountaineer]

A "phone" is one thing, but I suspect we're talking about something on the order of an iPhone. That is a luxury, not a necessity.

[XenaLee]

I can see the other side - to a point.  If you don't have a job or are honestly looking to work, having no phone could certainly be a hindrance.  But if you have a job, or attain one, the other side position falls apart.

Adding to that.... you can get a cell phone for a lot cheaper than $100 a month.  I know because I have one that only costs me $10 a month.  It's just for emergency calls (on the road, mostly) and an occasional long distance call.  Nothing fancy, but it works for me.  And it would work for anyone looking for a job, since most of the process involves them calling you, not vice versa.

[Gefn]

A "phone" is one thing, but I suspect we're talking about something on the order of an iPhone. That is a luxury, not a necessity.

For those of us under 40 or 50, I'm sure we recall having regular phones and using them to apply for jobs.

Land lines phones.

[GtHawk]

For those of us under 40 or 50, I'm sure we recall having regular phones and using them to apply for jobs.

Land lines phones.

I remember quite well not having any cell phone and managing three different restaurant locations on 24 hr. call up to 1998. I got by with a pager and landlines. I only hated the phone back then, once I got a cell phone I learned to despise them. I find it amazing that from the time that the phone was invented, we managed to survive with just landlines. Was it inconvenient, yes, could lives have been saved if there was a cellphone, yes, but we managed anyway. Today too many of us and our children cannot get by without a cellphone,  a tablet of some type and God forbid a bottle of water!

[DCPatriot]

For those of us under 40 or 50, I'm sure we recall having regular phones and using them to apply for jobs.

Land lines phones.

Just remember, the 'types' of people who still cling to land line telephones, are the SOLE participants of most polling.

[Fishrrman]

XenaLee wrote:
"you can get a cell phone for a lot cheaper than $100 a month.  I know because I have one that only costs me $10 a month."

You're payin' too much, ma'am.

I've got an old Samsung flip phone connected through pageplus.com. I pay $10 every FOUR months -- $30 a year.

Fishrrman --> took pride in my railroad days when another guy at work said I was "the cheapest man alive". Heh.

On my walk this afternoon, picked up two beer cans in the cold and carried 'em home.
That's ten cents more in my pocket!

[Oceander]

Consider the source - the NYT is not a reliable source when it comes to things that are politically controversial.

[Silver Pines]

I remember quite well not having any cell phone and managing three different restaurant locations on 24 hr. call up to 1998. I got by with a pager and landlines. I only hated the phone back then, once I got a cell phone I learned to despise them. I find it amazing that from the time that the phone was invented, we managed to survive with just landlines. Was it inconvenient, yes, could lives have been saved if there was a cellphone, yes, but we managed anyway. Today too many of us and our children cannot get by without a cellphone,  a tablet of some type and God forbid a bottle of water!

@GtHawk

I don't really like talking on the phone---never have.  I was perfectly fine with a flip phone.  Then my husband said he wanted us to get IPhones, and I love that little sucker, lol.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

She makes 1300 a month and has a 400 dollar car payment?


Good lord, maybe chaffetz was right.

[thackney]

Just remember, the 'types' of people who still cling to land line telephones, are the SOLE participants of most polling.

No longer true.

https://hbr.org/2016/08/how-todays-political-polling-works

...To achieve that randomness, telephone polls generally make use of a random-digit dial system, in which a computer uses a pre-determined set of area codes and exchanges (the middle three digits, which identify the service provider and area), and randomly generates the last four digits. If trying to reach a particular population, like a racial or occupational group, researchers can purchase lists of numbers, then randomly pick from that list. Of course, since about half of American households now only use cell phones, pollsters have to include cell phones in the sample, despite the fact that federal regulations require cell numbers to be dialed manually, rather than with an autodialer, dramatically increasing the cost of calling. ...

[mountaineer]

I'm "clinging" to a landline, but no one calls for my opinion. 

[goatprairie]

Whenever I read about hard luck stories of people struggling to get by I feel a tinge of sympathy. Especially if they're working or have just lost a job.   I've been in that situation. But sometimes while watching a story on tv about some poor unfortunate the wife and I will notice a flat screen tv in the background and a number of other things that do not indicate dire poverty.
Then we want to know what they spend their money on.
But I remember growing up hearing from adults that you do buy things you cannot afford to pay for.
I didn't eat in a restaurant in my home town until I was in my mid teens.  And my father was a food salesman who sold food to most of the area supper clubs. Many other things my siblings and I went without. 
So when young parents say their kids deserve to go on expensive trips to Disney World (as one of my stepdaughters said and did) while claiming near poverty, I have to hold my tongue.  Your kids deserve what you can afford to spend on them, nothing more.