Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz has not had a good year, what with getting yelled at by his angry Utah constituents and posting the most classless Instagram about Hillary Clinton we've ever seen (and we've seen it all). But he just keeps on getting himself into hot water.
CNN reports that when the House Oversight Committee chairman appeared on the network's New Day, he said he wants lower-income Americans to have more access to health coverage.
"But access for lower-income Americans doesn't equal coverage," pointed out co-host Alisyn Camerota.
"Well, we're getting rid of the individual mandate. We're getting rid of those things that people said that they don't want," Chaffetz responded. "Americans have choices, and they've got to make a choice. So rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care."
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Stop right there. Jason Chaffetz, are you actually telling lower-income people how to spend their own money? On top of the indignity of being stripped of their health care with the looming repeal of the Affordable Care Act, now they're being told how to budget by a politician who hasn't exactly earned their trust?
Predictably, Chaffetz was criticized on social media.
The iPhone bullshit is Reagan's Cadillac welfare queen canard for the new age. That's what Chaffetz is doing.
— Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) March 7, 2017
Chaffetz says we gotta choose between an iPhone and Healthcare? Why can't we choose between Healthcare and Trump playin' golf?
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) March 7, 2017
Jason Chaffetz doesn't know:
— Schooley (@Rschooley) March 7, 2017
•What healthcare costs
•What an iPhone costs
•Anything
Oh, wait I forgot to make this a poll.
Jason Chaffetz, selling my iPhone would not pay $31K healthcare bills last year. Thanks for the suggestion. ?#Trumpcare
— Strange Times (@rob13567) March 7, 2017
Indiana Republican congressman Larry Bucshon also rebuked Chaffetz's comments. "We don't want people to make choices in their life having to choose health care and leaving out other parts of their life that everyone else enjoys," Bucshon said on CNN Newsroom.
Later today, Chaffetz tried to clarify his statement.
"What we're trying to say — and maybe I didn't say it as smoothly as I possibly could — but people need to make a conscious choice and I believe in self-reliance," he said on Fox News' America's Newsroom. "And they're going to have to make those decisions." Easy for you to say, guy with a net worth of almost $800,000.
After many years of criticizing the Affordable Care Act, House Republicans finally introduced a replacement bill yesterday. The American Health Care Act would scrap Obamacare's individual mandate and replace it with refundable tax credits for people to purchase health insurance. The bill would also defund Planned Parenthood. The new plan is expected to leave millions who were insured with Obamacare without coverage, which may hurt its chances of being passed — oh, and the Republicans are still unsure how to fund it.
Two things we know: 1. Health care costs a hell of a lot more than an iPhone. 2. The angry people at town halls are about to get even angrier.