It would be difficult for me to name two other people I care about less than Tomi Lahren and Chelsea Handler. Handler is a terrible and problematic person, although she’s been trying to stake some kind of territory as a “political commentator” with some self-professed liberal/progressive politics. Tomi Lahren is the anti-feminist, racist bigot who used to work for The Blaze before she was sh-tcanned for expressing one pro-choice thought. She’s like the baby version of Ann Coulter, only (dare I say) not as smart. Tomi and Chelsea “met” at Politicon, a political/cultural conference in Pasadena this weekend. During their discussion, Tomi – a noted Obamacare critic – admitted that she’s still on her parents’ healthcare coverage. Because of course she is.
Comedian Chelsea Handler and conservative commentator Tomi Lahren faced off over the Affordable Care Act Saturday, just two days after Senate Republicans failed to repeal the heath care law, also known as Obamacare.
“I believe it’s my right to purchase health care, I don’t believe it’s my right to pay for it for other people,” Lahren told Handler. “We need to find alternatives — what we have now is not working. What we had before Obamacare wasn’t working.”
Lahren repeatedly argued against the law, which President Obama signed in 2010. But she did say at one point that she was still on her parents’ insurance plan because of it.
“Do you have a health care plan or no?” Handler asked Lahren.
“Well luckily, I’m 24, so I am still on my parents’ [plan]” Lahren replied. The audience immediately began laughing and cheering, but Handler shushed them. “Stop, stop, stop, she’s being honest,” she said.
A key provision of Obamacare allows dependents to remain on their parents’ plans until they reach 26 years old. Before the law was passed, the cutoff age was 19, or 22 for full-time students.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Lahren said. “To say there are things from Obamacare that are not positive, that’s not true.”
No. No, you don’t get to argue against Obamacare when you’re benefitting from Obamacare. You don’t get to bitch about the “cost” of Obamacare and how you don’t want to “pay” for other people’s healthcare when your parents are paying for your healthcare. This is the Republican party’s dilemma now, because with all of their activities over the past six months, Obamacare has never been more popular. Part of the reason is because people are only realizing NOW what Obamacare actually does and has done. Like, welcome to the program. The rest of us have been here since 2010.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
It’s so poetic.
She doesn’t want to pay for other’s healthcare but isn’t paying for her own.
at first, i read your comment as “it’s so pathetic”
Does she think this about car insurance too? Cuz that’s how it works. It’s amazing that these people spout all of this BS when they don’t even understand the industry that they’re talking about!
And homeowners. And if you own a business, or any other property, or anything at all really that you insure.
Dim bulb clearly doesn’t understand how insurance works. We’re all paying for each other–that’s how a healthy risk pool functions. What we need to shore up the ACA is to get to massive national risk pools or pool if we go single payer. It’s literally the only way to really get costs down along with rigorously negotiated prices.
The thing I will never, ever understand: in the UK, everyone has paid for healthcare. Yet our system is cheaper for taxpayers (on a per taxpayer basis) than the US bill for Medicaid, which only covers the indigent. How is it arguable that it’s a bad idea for everyone to pay less for universal coverage? Just how dogmatic do you need to be to want people to be without access to affordable care, when it costs you less, anyway?
There’s a huge industry dedicated to misinforming Americans, so a lot of them don’t even understand the facts you’ve just laid out in the way you’ve laid them out.
I’ll never understand either. Canada does not have free health care as much as people love to spout that we do. Those of us that make over $24,000 per year pay something per month, at least in BC. (http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/health-drug-coverage/msp/bc-residents/premiums/rates) I am not sure if all of the provinces have a medical premium or not.
So, in BC, if I don’t pay for medical, or even if I haven’t paid my premiums for whatever reason, I will be covered if I have to go to the doctor or the hospital. In the hospital, everything will be covered. Drugs, scans, doctors, everything. If I do to the doc and need a prescription, the drugs will not be. I would have to pay for those. My medical coverage at work covers the other things, drugs, therapy of whatever kind, dental, etc. My hub has it as well, so most of our extras are completely covered. It works out to be pretty cheap for us, as my job also covers our monthly medical (a taxable benefit from the company). We pay about $100 per month for the work coverage. If we were paying the premium, it would be about $250. So, $250 a month to be covered 100%, yeah, I’m good with that. It’s not free, sure one heart attack will blow through what I will pay into the medical system in my lifetime, but we still do have excellent care. If we were below the pay threshold, there would still be 100% care if you had a heart attack. This is one of the things about universal coverage that is great. It may not be a perfect system but at least if you fall on hard times, you will be covered if something happens. I don’t get the whole thing against universal care, I really don’t. It’s not free except for those who really need it to be. No one is riding one someone else’s tails. We all pay taxes that cover the rest. Everyone is entitled to care here, no matter what.
She’s a smug Republican bimbo.
Lahren is trying to reinvent herself as some sort of conservative feminist. I really hope it doesn’t work because she just another racist troll from alt right media.
She’s so dumb. Like you cannot make up the level of stupidity from deplorables
If nothing else, I admire her hustle. How folks continue to give her so much country is amazing. She’s ridden her bland mediocrity to success. Congrats to her. Everyone isn’t able.
Well, she had to let go of some sense of dignity and sense of shame to do it. Kind of like the family with the 15 year old who married a 50 year old?
It’s only because she is a hot young blonde who says things that the deplorables love. So no I don’t really offer her congrats.
Ann Coulter is a very smart woman. That’s why I despise her so much because she uses her intelligence to promote racism and bigotry. Tomi is not very smart. She is a dumb racist anti-feminist horrible young woman who is clearly trying to land a job at Fox News and friends.
Well yes Ann has published books and makes defends and refutes points at above average for the level of TV. Tomi is well below average maybe the same level as Sarah palin. She would clearly have never had a show if not for her looks.
@ Fiorucci……whoa!!!! Slow down there…..!!!! Comparing ANYONE with more than 3 brain cells to Palin is an extremely harsh indictment imho.
Let’s re-phrase this realistically: If the average person has an IQ of 100, I’ll put LAhren at say 80 and Palin at about 40. 45 when she’s having a very bright day.
I think that’s fairer.
“To say there are things from Obamacare that are not positive, that’s not true.”
And the things that benefit me, Tomi Lahren, are the ones that are good. The things that benefit other people, those are ones I don’t want to pay for.
Not enough eye-roll in the world for this one.
This. She gets free healthcare so that’s fantastic. Other people getting cover… wrongbad!
This is my Hell. Two mediocre, ignorant, white women arguing over policies I seriously doubt either of them really care about.
Why just white women? My hell is anytime two or more mediocre, ignorant people get together and debate things they think they understand but don’t and have no interest in expanding their knowledge.
Thank you, LA Elle. That was close to what I wanted to say: why only “white women?”…I saw this woman on the Daily Show w Trevor Noah and he was so gracious, so kind, so open to her–and she was nothing but the nasty, insufferable and combative bigot she’s apparently gotten famous for being. I had not heard of her before this; after seeing what an ignorant, moronic racist she is, I hope to hear nothing more from her.
How is someone this young even given a platform? She has barely lived life. I don’t think she can fairly comment on policy.
I feel the same way, at least regarding health insurance. She’s on her parents’ plan! She’s never had to pay for her own coverage, or worry about whether a job would provide it or not. And most likely she hasn’t had any serious illness or injury that’s impacted her financially.
I don’t want to dismiss people because of their age, there are a lot of very smart young adults out there who are engaged and interested and want to be involved. She doesn’t seem to be one of them though, and I can’t figure out why she’s gotten any kind of credibility or attention. Other than she’s a “pretty” blonde who spouts outrageous things, and a certain segment of the population likes that.
Same with Ronan Farrow. It’s the downside of a youth-driven culture: we give youth and inexperience too much credit. In a way, it’s the same side of the coin for this irrational push to have non-politicians in public office and to argue that anyone with public-sector experience is somehow less qualified.
To generalize: I think the young have a ton of enthusiasm and curiosity that older folks would do well to borrow. But you can’t imitate wisdom that comes from experience and observation, and we’d all be better if we started embracing older people who combine their wisdom with the enthusiasm, curiosity and optimism of younger adults.
She also does not understand the concept of insurance, where the healthy people pay for the sick people. THAT”S WHAT IT IS FOR, DIPSHIT!!
Sorry; this drives me nuts, especially when she is still on mommy and daddy’s insurance and letting them pay for her when she’s out there on her own earning a living. GMAFB
Thank you. All insurance is about shared risk. The auto and homeowner’s insurance we pay helps those who may need to file a claim. I pay my premiums and expect that if the need arises I will be covered in the event of an accident. Health insurance functions the same. Everyone pays into the system and whoever needs coverage gets it. It boggles my mind people have no problem with paying auto/homeowners insurance but freak the hell out about health insurance paying for people who ar sick.
Exactly, Ilsa. Problem is people like her look at medical insurance as expense reimbursement, not insurance. If they don’t get back what they put in (and then some) they scream bloody murder. Well guess what. I pay $600 a month for insurance, that I’m not even going to get 10% back on and that thrills me. Know why? It means I’m healthy!!!
Tomi is not too bright. She’s a show woman, and a good hustler, but she hardly has well-thought out political views and analysis. But I do take issue with the final commentary. Yes, of course I can benefit from Obamacare and still be critical of Obamacare. It has many beneficial things, but also has many problems (as does any health care system, honestly). I am a strong believer in universal coverage, but Obamacare is an imperfect system. When did our discussion have to get so black and white?
Cause politicians used it as a political football to advance their cause and it became just like other hot potato social issues (abortion, LGBT rights, etc.)
There’s so much to be annoyed and angry with when it comes to Tomi, but I’m choosing to be petty here. I have a real problem with her wording – “I believe it’s my right to purchase health care, I don’t believe it’s my right to pay for it for other people”. Responsibility. That’s the word you’re looking for, Tomi.
But since you’re against paying for things that keep other people alive and only care about what can benefit you, maybe you should be responsible for paying for your own police access. Or firefighter access. Or any of those other taxpayer funded programs that keep our society functioning.
I completely agree with your statement.
And I would like to add this: a few thoughts on the type of insurances we are talking about.
A health insurance is similar to a fire insurance or a life insurance in one way:
it is a RISK INSURANCE.
Risk insurances work this way: a lot of people pay in and the unlucky devil who get his by bad health / fire / death gets the money for health treatment / lost property / big sum. It is a capitalist invention and it simply spreads the risk. But it also means that a lot of people pay in and will never get anything out. People pay in nevertheless because the RISK is so damaging tragic to your life / wealth. That is why they pay in. Because IF it happens it would be such a damage / tragedy.
Her thinking is pretty typical of conservatives. They insist that Obamacare is bad except for the parts that help them personally. And they don’t acknowledge that those parts of Obamacare are actually Obamacare. Many didn’t know that ACA and Obamacare are the same thing.
What health insurance plan does Chelsea Handler have?
Yep, I would like to know that, too. As Handler was presenting Lahren and giving her stage presence I think it is legit to ask about Handler’s health insurance plans.
If this idiotic woman is indicative of our future, the meteor can’t get here fast enough.
Dear Lord Allmighty,
Could you please throw down some moral conscience to planet earth?
Tomi Lahren is here already but not all of her parts have arrived yet.
Thank you.
Name her, blame her and shame her.
I plea again for the media to STOP calling it Obamacare. Please stop feeding into the bias created by calling it Obamacare.
I wish everyone who denounced the ACA would not get to reap the benefits of it.
This makes me, a 27-year-old who just got kicked off her mother’s health plan and had to scramble to get coverage this years, want to scream even more, and all the more reason she can stick it.
Privileged to the core
I don’t hate Chelsea, she is trying to become woke. I’m a 37 group gay man, still learning about white privilege and feminism. I’m an Australian, living in Japan, with long my long time japanese boyfriend. I try to educate my friends, but I am not perfect. I can speak for being a middle class white gay, my experiences at school, with coming out, etc. But I can only do my best, and learn more about issues that don’t impact on me personally.
I am Male, so it takes some time. 😉