Jeff Bezos’ article in The Washington Post recently lit a firestorm discussing how two people were able to quit their jobs thanks to Obamacare. One of the first things I thought about when Obamacare passed was how awesome it will be for early retirees and folks who must work at miserable jobs just for the health care to be able to break free more easily. Thankfully, my prediction is turning true!
Take a look at the profiles of the two people who were able to quit their job to do something more meaningful with their lives:
Example #1
Eddie Gonzalez-Novoa, 44, now living in Houston, last year left a full-time job in New York making $88,000 a year plus benefits to help his nephew, a cancer survivor, start a social media and video-gaming site for other teens with the disease.
Example #2
Polly Lower, 56, quit her job to babysit her 5-year old granddaughter full time. With the help of federal subsidies that kicked in Jan. 1, she is paying less than $500 a month for health coverage for herself and her husband.
THE SHOCK AND HORROR!
How could Eddie quit his $88,000 a year job to be so compassionate as to take care of his nephew and start a business? How could Polly, after working for at least two decades quit her low paying job to help her daughter or son out with child raising so they can go work?
If you want to be like Eddie and quit your $88,000 a year job to make less than $45,000 to pursue your dreams, go right ahead! That’s what the Untemplate lifestyle is all about – taking risks, doing things you love, and having no regrets. A long the way, you’ll get subsidy from the Federal government so you don’t go broke trying to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams.
If you’re 56 years old and are sick and tired of working a low paying job, and you’ve got some savings put away in order to take time off and help your children out, more power to you. You’ve already paid your taxes, did your best to try and ascend, and finally, there’s some help for her to no longer be tethered to misery.
Eddie and Polly aren’t 35 year old deadbeats who are still mooching off their parents. They are common citizens who go through the ups and downs of life just like everyone else. If a law passes that will help them out with exorbitant healthcare care costs, they would be stupid not to take advantage of the benefits. That’s like walking by a $100 bill laying on the sidewalk and not picking it up.
SO WHO IS GOING TO PAY FOR THE SUBSIDIES?
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that some 2.5 million Americans will quit their jobs, cut their hours, or stop looking for work over the next decade thanks to the Affordable Care Act. And why is this a bad thing?
The Affordable Care Act is allowing people to no longer feel like slaves to jobs they hate. With happier, more productive workers, the economic engine runs more efficiently.
Given 74% of all the assets are owned by the top 5%, obviously the top 5% will pay most of the bill. After all, Obamacare is an example of wealth distribution. So let’s say the top 5% only own 50% of all assets in America to help the other 95%, is this so bad? Perhaps, since some view stealing from one group and giving it to another as wrong. But any attempt to fight Big Government is futile, so one must learn to join them.
The redistribution of wealth is here to stay because we have enormous wealth inequality. For those who do have financial means, we must do more to help others through education and funding. For those who do not have financial means, it’s important to take responsibility and do everything possible to work harder and learn more to break out of a negative financial cycle. The government and wealthy people can only subsidize so much before tremendous conflict will arise.
It’s a shame that a country as rich as ours can allow people to fall into financial disrepair due to a medical mishap or egregious healthcare premiums which result in under insurance.
WHY ARE PEOPLE SO MAD AT HELPING OTHERS?
The only explanation for the outrage against subsidizing others for not working is that too many people are absolutely MISERABLE at their jobs. If people were happy at their jobs, they’d feel sorry for Polly and Eddie for no longer being able to work. It’s too bad they couldn’t find something they love to do. But because they are too weak or uneducated to leave a job they hate, and would rather complain about the courage of others, we find ourselves in this silly situation.
If you don’t have the courage to make less than $45,000 as a single individual, or $96,000 as a family of four, then it’s pointless to complain. The Affordable Care Act is available to all people who fall under the above income limits. Subsidy amounts by income for the ACA are based off poverty levels.
The worst thing you can do is complain about your situation and do nothing about it. I knew I was never going to get promoted to Managing Director after my fourth year of Director so I figured out a way to negotiate a severance package and leave. There was no way I was going to be another bitter employee.
If you want subsidies for health care, go right ahead. It’s now your American right. If you’d like to work at a miserable job for most of your life, nobody is going to stop you, not even your employer who is getting more out of you than you know. Don’t underestimate free will. It’s still in you somewhere.
Readers, why do you think people are so mad about subsidizing people who don’t want to work? Do we all hate our jobs so much? Is redistributing wealth wrong when the rich have so much already? When did we start getting jealous of people who made less than $45,000 a year?
Regards,
Sam
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I missed the WP article when it was published, but definitely an interesting read. It, and this post, wasn’t really what I was expecting from the title though 🙂 This is only really a tricky subject because there are always people waiting to take advantage of a good thing, right? That being said, the examples used make me think – good for them! And if it leads more people to quit traditional jobs and start small businesses then it will be great for the economy!
I definitely think a lot of the backlash is from jealousy, which is really sad. There are a lot of people who take their own frustrations out on others and only end up making themselves more miserable in the process!
Definitely different than what the headline implicated. I believe this is a little different than the person who sits on the beach all day on their “Obama phone” then goes and gets lobster with their EBT card.
Many people believe that our hard earned money should go to us, and we pay taxes to help out those who are incapable of working. However, there is an issue when people aren’t willing to work, and so many people are reluctant to giving money to them.
Incapable is definitely different from not being willing to work. There will always be a high number of both and no perfect solution that makes everybody happy.
Definitely not what I was expecting from the headline (was thinking along the lines of welfare and benefits, which is a different story…) Personally I think it’s nuts that healthcare is so closely tied to employment for you guys, especially when it’s the sickest who can’t generally work. A commenter pointed out on one of my previous posts (in which I hinted that healthcare would be one of the reasons that I wouldn’t want to live in the US) that the whole healthcare thing isn’t really an issue as long as you have a good job, the problem of course being those are getting harder to find, and in my case job security/prospects isn’t great here and would be even worse in the US.
Yes, they are definitely harder to find and the costs to employees are going up. A lot of companies try to hire people as independent contractors to avoid having to pay benefits too.
From what I hear from friends, they don’t want to work to subsidize someone that isn’t working.
Honestly I think the pricing still isn’t low enough. I pay $300 per month through my employer. Granted they pay a large portion on their end, but I can hardly imagine paying $500 per month, especially in a low income situation.
$300 is a lot through an employer, but it’s becoming more common. My premiums have gone up by about double over the last couple years.