Because you never know when the consequences of your voting actions will directly affect you.
It’s constitutional – deal with it
Erin Meredith, a fifth-generation Republican who lives in Austin, was no fan of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which she considered just another wasteful government handout. She didn’t sign up for a health plan until late last year, when she felt she had no other choice.
By then, Meredith, who is 37 and has two children, had gotten divorced and lost the insurance provided through her husband. Her new job, as an office manager for a roofing company, didn’t offer benefits. About the same time, she learned that her headaches and fatigue were the result of a rare condition that affects the oxygen level in her blood. She couldn’t afford to spend thousands of dollars on doctor’s visits, and her desperation slowly turned to panic.
In November, at a friend’s urging, Meredith looked for a health plan on the federal online marketplace. With an income of about $30,000 a year, she discovered she qualified for a government subsidy of $132 a month. Her premium would be $89 a month.
Now that she has coverage, she doesn’t want to lose it. “I can still feed my kids and put gas in my car,” she said. “I’m not trying to go to Cancun or carry a Michael Kors bag. I drive a 2009 Mazda, and I’m just trying to make it in my little apartment and not be on government assistance.”
Meredith is one of about 6 million people whose subsidized insurance hangs in the balance as the Supreme Court takes up a case that poses the most serious challenge to the Affordable Care Act since the court found the law constitutional more than two years ago.
[…]
“If they’re not going to participate in Obamacare and I’m not going to have these financial benefits, which will force me to pay $220 a month for coverage, do you know if Greg Abbott, our governor, has any plan to offer something comparable?” Meredith asked in an e-mail. “I understand and support his efforts to put Washington back in its place. I just don’t want that to come at the cost of hard-working Texans and their ability to maintain medical coverage.”
Dear Erin Meredith,
The answer is no, he does not. Although this is the rare lawsuit against the Obama administration for which Greg Abbott is not among the plaintiffs, it is his fondest wish for Obamacare to die a bloody death, and if this lawsuit helps make that happen, then nothing will make him happier. If that means that you and your family will suffer as a result, well, that’s just too bad. Greg Abbott doesn’t care, and doesn’t have any intention of helping you. You’re on your own, as far as he’s concerned. Neither do Dan Patrick or Ken Paxton, and neither did Rick Perry while he was Governor. In fact, Rick Perry recently claimed that the reason people like you didn’t have health insurance before now is because that the way you wanted it. It’s his justification for why he never pushed to provide anything like the subsidies for insurance you now receive. Greg Abbott feels the same way. It’s your fault, and you don’t deserve any assistance for it. Hope this answers your question. Daily Kos has more.
(There are more stories about Texans who wold be very badly affected by an adverse SCOTUS ruling on subsidies, in Vox and the Sunday Houston Chronicle. Greg Abbott doesn’t care about any of these people, either, though those stories don’t say if any of them were foolish enough to have voted for him in November.)
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