"Affordable Plumbing Act"

[ripvanwinkle]

I didn't write this. It got sent to me. You may have seen this. It's a good chuckle..... 

Weeks after leaving office on January 20, 2017, former President Barack Obama discovered a leak under his sink, so he called Joe the Plumber to come out and fix it. Joe drove to President Obama's new house, which is located in a very exclusive, gated community near Washington DC, where all the residents have a net income of way more than $250,000 per year.

Joe arrived and took his tools into the house. He was led to the guest bathroom that contained the leaky pipe under the sink. Joe assessed the problem and told Obama that it was an easy repair & that will take less than10 minutes. Obama asked Joe how much it will cost. Joe checked his rate chart and said, "$9,500."
"What?! $9,500?!" Obama asked, stunned, "But you said it's an easy repair."

Joe said, "Yes, but what I do is charge those who make more than $250,000 per year a much higher amount so I can fix the plumbing of poorer people for free. This has always been my philosophy. As a matter of fact, I lobbied the Democrat Congress, who passed this philosophy into law. Now all plumbers must do business this way. It's known as the 'Affordable Plumbing Act of 2014'. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it."

In spite of that, Obama told Joe there's no way he's paying that much for a small plumbing repair, so Joe left. Obama spent the next hour flipping through the phone book calling for another plumber, but he found that all other plumbing businesses in the area have gone out of business. Not wanting to pay Joe's price, Obama does nothing and the leak goes un-repaired for several more days. A week later the leak is so bad President Obama has had to put a bucket under the sink.

Michelle is not happy as she had Oprah and guests arriving the next morning.The bucket filled up quickly and had to be emptied every hour, and there was a risk the room will flood, so Obama called Joe and pleaded with him to return.

Joe went back to Obama's house, looked at the leaky pipe, checked his new rate chart and said, "Let's see, this will now cost you $21,000."

Obama quickly fired back, "What? A few days ago you told me it would cost $9,500!"

Joe explained, "Well, because of the 'Affordable Plumbing Act,” a lot of wealthier people are learning how to maintain and take care of their own plumbing, so there are fewer payers in the plumbing exchanges. As a result, the price I have to charge wealthy people like you keeps rising. Not only that, but for some reason the demand for plumbing work by those who get it for free has skyrocketed! There's a long waiting list of those who need repairs, but the amount we get doesn't cover our costs, especially paperwork and record keeping.

This unfortunately has put a lot of my fellow plumbers out of business, they're not being replaced, and nobody is going into the plumbing business because they know they can't make any money at it. I'm hurting too, all thanks to greedy rich people like you who won't pay their 'fair share,' On the other hand, why didn't you buy plumbing insurance last December? If you had bought plumbing insurance available under the 'Affordable Plumbing Act,' all this would have been covered by your policy."

"You mean I wouldn't have to pay anything to have you fix my plumbing problem?" asks Obama.

"Well, not exactly," replied Joe. "You would have had to buy the insurance before the deadline, which has passed now. And, because you're rich, you would have had to pay $34,000 in premiums, which would have given you a 'silver' plan, and then, since this would have been your first repair, you would have to pay up to the $21,000 deductible, and anything over that would have a $7,500 co-pay, and then there's the mandatory maintenance program, which is covered up to 17.5%, so there are some costs involved. Nothing is for free."

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Obama. "Why so much for a puny sink leak?!"

With a bland look, Joe replied, "Well, paperwork, mostly, like I said. And the internal cost of the program itself. You don't think a program of this complexity and scope can run itself, do you? Besides, there are millions of folks with lower incomes than you, even many in the 'middle class', who qualify for subsidies that people like you must support. That's why they call it the 'Affordable Plumbing Act'! Only people who don't make much money can afford it. If you want affordable plumbing, you'll have to give away most of what you have accumulated and cut your and Michelle's income by about 90%. Then you can qualify to GET your 'Fair Share' instead of GIVING it."

"But who would pass a crazy act like the 'Affordable Plumbing Act'?!" exclaimed the exasperated Obama.

After a sigh, Joe replied, "Congress ... because they didn't read it."

This will help you understand ObamaCare. And here you have it, the "Affordable Plumbing Act of 2014"

[dondub]

What will help you understand it?

[Virgil Showlion]

Except it's missing the legions of APA supporters who insisted that heaping millions of formerly unplumbable people onto the exchanges was going to save the government billions.

[Rob Base 2.0]

Don't worry. If u don't like ACA, the repubs are only going to make it worse (assuming they can pass something .....big assumption there)

[weltschmerz]

I have another scenario for you.

Trump has a leak in the bathroom of his guest room in his gilded tower.

Dismayed, he calls a plumber.  "How much will this cost me?" he demands.  The plumber responds "It's not a huge job. It will be about $200."
Trump gives the Ok to get the job done. When the plumber finishes, he asks for his money.
Trump responds with "Here's 20 bucks. Take it or leave it. You don't like it? Sue me."

[OldCoyote]

May 4, 2017 12:02:45 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

I have another scenario for you.

Trump has a leak in the bathroom of his guest room in his gilded tower.

Dismayed, he calls a plumber.  "How much will this cost me?" he demands.  The plumber responds "It's not a huge job. It will be about $200."
Trump gives the Ok to get the job done. When the plumber finishes, he asks for his money.
Trump responds with "Here's 20 bucks. Take it or leave it. You don't like it? Sue me."

The plumber puts a lien on Trump towers!

[OldCoyote]

O.C. loves liens,, Go thru the entire process where Trump does not pay I could own Trump Towers!

[b2r]

Snakebite's high price tag



UPDATED:SEP 08 2016 10:39PM PDT



This is the story of Dominic Devine. He's 10 years old and severely autistic. One night in July Dominic and his mom were visiting her parents at Lake Mathews. He followed her outside when he picked up a snake and waved in the air like it was a toy.

His mom heard some noise, saw him waving something in the air, heard a snake rattle and then heard the boy scream "OUCH". Being autistic his dad, David, says he didn't have a sense of fear or danger and that's why he grabbed the snake the way he did.

Dominic was punctured in the thigh. Good news is his mother and grandfather took the boy in the house. They saw the puncture marks. They got to the hospital. He got anti-venom and the boy ended up just fine. It could have gone a different way. But, by all accounts, quick action and the right meds saved the day. When dad got the bill he almost needed to go to the hospital because it was over $1 million. The exact amount $1.188 Million Dollars!



--------------------------------------------------------------



He says there was a mistake and it was corrected. Actually, it was corrected twice. The first time it was reduced to $511,825.01. Then, the hospital reduced it to $350,000-plus. Devine's co-pay was in the neighborhood of $8,000, but the hospital decided for all his trouble they wouldn't make him pay that.





www.foxla.com/news/local-news/203764794-story

[Virgil Showlion]

May 4, 2017 19:58:14 GMT -5 b2r said:

Snakebite's high price tag



UPDATED:SEP 08 2016 10:39PM PDT



This is the story of Dominic Devine. He's 10 years old and severely autistic. One night in July Dominic and his mom were visiting her parents at Lake Mathews. He followed her outside when he picked up a snake and waved in the air like it was a toy.

His mom heard some noise, saw him waving something in the air, heard a snake rattle and then heard the boy scream "OUCH". Being autistic his dad, David, says he didn't have a sense of fear or danger and that's why he grabbed the snake the way he did.

Dominic was punctured in the thigh. Good news is his mother and grandfather took the boy in the house. They saw the puncture marks. They got to the hospital. He got anti-venom and the boy ended up just fine. It could have gone a different way. But, by all accounts, quick action and the right meds saved the day. When dad got the bill he almost needed to go to the hospital because it was over $1 million. The exact amount $1.188 Million Dollars!



--------------------------------------------------------------



He says there was a mistake and it was corrected. Actually, it was corrected twice. The first time it was reduced to $511,825.01. Then, the hospital reduced it to $350,000-plus. Devine's co-pay was in the neighborhood of $8,000, but the hospital decided for all his trouble they wouldn't make him pay that.





www.foxla.com/news/local-news/203764794-story

Of course it's going to cost a king's ransom.

You don't get immediate treatment for a bite like that, you turn into a politician. The doctors can charge whatever they want with that hanging over your head.