Cancer Survivor Who Lost Insurance Under Obama Calls Democrats ‘Disingenuous’
Scott Lunsford mentioned he was achieved with Democrats after they pledged to present free well being care to unlawful immigrants whereas disregarding U.S. residents.
Scott Lunsford of Wichita, Kansas, knew the exact second he was leaving the Democratic Occasion, he informed his almost 16,000 followers on TikTok in a latest video that shortly went viral.
It was throughout a Democratic Occasion debate within the 2019 presidential main season, when all 10 candidates raised their fingers in approval of unlawful immigrants receiving government-subsidized medical insurance.
“I used to be a two-time bone most cancers survivor,” he informed his followers within the video. “I voted for Obama–Biden based mostly on Obamacare. And when it was carried out in 2010, I ended up dropping my insurance coverage.”
The Inexpensive Care Act (ACA), recognized informally as “Obamacare,” turned legislation in 2010 underneath President Barack Obama.
Earlier than the implementation of the legislation, Mr. Lunsford’s month-to-month insurance coverage plan was $185 with a $1,000 deductible. Nonetheless, that coverage was canceled as a result of it now not met the ACA necessities.
The most cost effective choice out there underneath the brand new legislation was a $1,200 month-to-month plan with a $6,000 deductible, he mentioned within the video.
“I went 10 years with out insurance coverage, and I used to be penalized every year as a result of I may now not afford insurance coverage,” he mentioned. “Every little thing they mentioned about Obamacare was a lie.”
Mr. Lunsford, 54, informed The Epoch Instances that seeing Democrats advocate without spending a dime well being take care of unlawful immigrants whereas he had gone with out was like “getting salt poured on a wound.”
When he was 32, docs found he had most cancers on his humerus, he mentioned. The humerus is the higher arm bone that connects to the shoulder.
Medical doctors took out the bone, he defined, and changed it with a rod to attach his arm.
“Fortunately I had my insurance coverage as a result of I used to be stepping into and getting X-rays,” he mentioned.
When he turned 36, physicians discovered one other progress on a chunk of bone that had been left to attach his arm.
“If I hadn’t had insurance coverage, I wouldn’t be right here proper now,” he mentioned. “I wasn’t imagined to make it both time.”
The affected arm needed to be eliminated, he mentioned.
“It was a really arduous factor to do, however on the identical time, it wasn’t for my profit,” he mentioned. “It was for my household’s profit that I be there.”
‘The Wheels Simply Began Falling Off’
Mr. Lunsford had been a socially average voter, he mentioned, however was extra fiscally conservative.
Part of the Democratic Occasion’s promotion of the ACA on the time, he recalled, was its efficient marketing campaign to demonize Republicans by saying they didn’t need folks to have insurance coverage if that they had preexisting situations.
“Having already been by two bouts of most cancers and misplaced my arm, that made me very afraid, so it was a no brainer for me to vote for Obama–Biden based mostly on that one coverage alone,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, after President Obama bought elected and the ACA was carried out in 2010, “the wheels simply began falling off,” he mentioned.
Regardless of guarantees of with the ability to maintain one’s plan and physician, Mr. Lunsford discovered that, underneath the ACA’s pointers, some insurance coverage insurance policies have been now not accepted, together with his personal.
“Imagine it or not, I came upon the explanation my insurance coverage coverage was now not acceptable was as a result of it didn’t present free contraception,” he mentioned. “Right here we have been in our late 30s. There was completely no want for us to have that in our scenario.”
On the time, he was within the technique of making use of for incapacity, and his spouse was making $10 an hour making an attempt to help a household of 5.
“We had a tough determination to make,” he mentioned. “Can we go forward and get this dearer insurance coverage, or will we feed our kids?”
It was a tough determination made simple when contemplating the lives of his youngsters, he mentioned.
“And from then on I went simply wanting 10 years with out ever having a CT scan, a chest X-ray, and different exams my physician informed me wanted to be achieved each six months to make sure it didn’t come again,” he mentioned.
The frustration, he mentioned, festered.
He was taxed every year for not having insurance coverage, which simply made it worse, and any time the topic of insurance coverage was mentioned, Mr. Lunsford turned agitated.
“What actually pissed off me was each time Democratic candidates would rise up on stage, they’d marketing campaign on how our well being care system is damaged, however all of them voted for this,” he mentioned.
Mr. Lunsford had already begun to separate himself from the Democratic Occasion when he noticed the ten main candidates within the 2019 debate elevate their fingers, he mentioned.
“That was the second—pardon the pun—I washed my fingers of the Democratic Occasion,” he mentioned. “For them to sit down there and gloat about how they’d give illegals insurance coverage whereas taking mine away, not permitting me to have these exams be achieved to make sure my most cancers didn’t come again, after which penalize me for it—I used to be achieved with them. I began to see clearly for the primary time.”
‘In Conservative Territory’
Mr. Lunsford mentioned his determination to vote for former President Donald Trump is concerning the sensible outcomes of his insurance policies.
“Once you have a look at what he’s achieved, it really works,” he mentioned. “His insurance policies profit me instantly. I bought a tax lower. My employer bought a tax lower. They gave us all raises. I used to be working at Costco on the time and I noticed that they lowered costs due to the tax cuts. I began seeing that Republicans have been voting for me to have more cash whereas Democrats have been voting for me to have much less cash, easy as that.”
He doesn’t take into account himself a Republican, he mentioned. His average views haven’t modified, however the Democratic Occasion has shifted too far left, leaving him “in conservative territory.”
“Now I’m thought of MAGA as a result of I don’t agree with Democrats,” he mentioned. “For all of the griping folks have achieved about Donald Trump, I by no means as soon as heard anybody complain concerning the worth of fuel, the value of groceries, inflation, and the mortgage price. All of the issues persons are upset about now weren’t a problem then.”
He added that there have been no new wars underneath the Trump administration and that fuel was $1.89 per gallon.
“I’m sitting at a fuel station now and it’s $3.19, and that’s after it got here down,” he mentioned. “Now, I do know folks say presidents don’t have an effect on fuel costs, however their insurance policies do.”
A Message for Younger Individuals
Mr. Lunsford mentioned he had a message for younger people who find themselves nonetheless on their dad and mom’ insurance coverage.
“You solely suppose you’re struggling as we speak making an attempt to pay lease, making an attempt to purchase groceries, and making an attempt to purchase a house,” he mentioned. “You might be required to purchase your individual insurance coverage or be with out, and that’s a complete different degree of stress you’ve but to expertise.”
Mr. Lunsford mentioned he had no concept how many individuals had the identical struggles till he learn the feedback part on his posts.
In one other video he posted, he mentioned it isn’t good to vote “towards” a candidate versus voting “for” another person, which he’s seeing many youthful folks do as we speak, he mentioned.
“Don’t vote towards Donald Trump since you’re informed to hate him,” he mentioned within the video. “Don’t vote towards Biden since you suppose he’s a senile outdated man. Vote on what you suppose goes to have an effect on you probably the most.”
Younger folks see the presidential election as a reputation contest quite than a vote based mostly on insurance policies that can have an effect on peoples’ lives instantly, he informed The Epoch Instances.
“They’re not eager about the ramifications of inflation, high-interest charges, and the price of items and providers,” he mentioned. “They’re not apprehensive about that as a result of they haven’t skilled it but.”
What he’s discovered as folks grow old, nevertheless, is that they shift to the proper after they “achieve extra knowledge by life expertise.”
“That doesn’t imply they develop into Republican, nevertheless it means they don’t align with the Democratic Occasion anymore,” he mentioned. “I believe that’s the place you discover loads of impartial voters and Libertarians.”
‘It’s Disingenuous’
From what he’s seen, Democrats solely care about picture, Mr. Lunsford mentioned.
“They are going to step over a homeless veteran on a sidewalk in our nation to ship cash the world over to Ukraine,” he mentioned. “It’s disingenuous.”
International warming doesn’t scare him as a lot as the place society shall be in 10 to fifteen years, he mentioned.
“I’m staff asteroid at this level. Come take us out so nobody has to endure, as a result of I’m seeing how briskly issues are altering since I graduated,” he mentioned. “Once I was at school we by no means mentioned somebody’s sexual identification in school, and now it’s like they’re making an attempt to examine these bins off to see in case you are an ally of the LGBTQ. If not, you’re filled with hate. Do you help BLM? No? OK, you’re a racist. It was the precise situation Dr. Martin Luther King was preventing towards. It’s mind-boggling to see how far we’ve gone backward.”
Regardless of this, Mr. Lunsford mentioned he has “a incredible appreciation for all times” since surviving most cancers.
“I don’t have dangerous days,” he mentioned. “I’ve some days which might be higher than others, however I by no means have a nasty day as a result of I cheated loss of life twice.”
He harbors no anger, he mentioned.
“I don’t stroll with my head down,” he mentioned. “I stroll with my head up.”
And that’s a message for everybody, he mentioned.
“You get to find out if it’s a velocity bump slowing you down or a roadblock,” he mentioned. “Nobody will get to carry that energy to find out that apart from you.”
Mr. Lunsford selected to see his most cancers prognosis as a velocity bump.
“It was a tough time, however I gained loads of knowledge from going by that,” he mentioned. “I by no means say my scenario was worse than others as a result of everybody has challenges. Everybody has setbacks.”
A setback, he mentioned, generally is a setup for an excellent comeback, and America has a chance to come back again.
“Once I see what we bought underneath Trump versus what we’re getting underneath Biden, it’s a no brainer for me which one I would like again in workplace.”
Mr. Lunsford mentioned that though he used to dislike President Trump’s abrasiveness, now he appreciates it due to the previous president’s drive to struggle for insurance policies that make folks’s lives higher.
“I didn’t like him then, however now, I would give my proper arm to have him again,” Mr. Lunsford joked.