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Dylan Ratigan — who earlier this year turned away from a million-dollar MSNBC contract to become a hydroponic greenhouse farmer — seemed like the next candidate to become the face of the "I liked my plan and I lost it" movement on Friday. He tweeted that his $170-a-month catastrophic health insurance plan had been cancelled:
I bought a catastrophic health policy for $170/mo when I left MSNBC. Obamacare cancelled the policy. New rate $600/mo. Thnx Mr. President!
— Dylan Ratigan (@DylanRatigan) November 8, 2013
And no, he's not eligible for any subsidies (even if the administration does decide to raise the subsidy cut-off above 400 percent of the poverty line). The left has disowned him as a poor little rich guy crying about pocket change, which the right's glad another cable news liberal woke up and smelled the socialism. But Ratigan's case is a little more complicated than that.
Glad to see Ratigan finally stopped drinking the Obama Kool-Aid.
Ah, no. While he was on the left-leaning MSNBC, Ratigan has been critical of the Affordable Care Act from the beginning. Here he is in December 2009, yelling at Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, asking why health insurance companies saw their stock prices increase the closer the law was to passing. (She never got to answer.) Today, the gist of Ratigan's argument is that Obamacare doesn't break up insurance monopolies or restructure the health insurance industry. It just sets a standard for health care plans that he doesn't agree with:
I have been a long time advocate of catastrophic with a transparent mkt for routine. Struck me as interesting that that is illegal now.
— Dylan Ratigan (@DylanRatigan) November 8, 2013
Interesting discussion...many seem to think paying a high deductible in exchange for low cost catastrophic should be outlawed? I disagree.
— Dylan Ratigan (@DylanRatigan) November 8, 2013
Exactly. He liked his plan and now he has to pay an extra $5,160 a year for insurance he doesn't want!