Republicans Have No Idea How Much Healthcare Or iPhones Cost

In an interview with CNN, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz compared the cost of an iPhone to the price of healthcare coverage under the new Republican plan.

March 07, 2017

On Monday, House Republicans rolled out their long-promised replacement for the Affordable Care Act. Though analysis of the plan shows that it will raise the price of coverage for low-income families, House Oversight Committee Chariman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) insisted that the plan will offer Americans of all income levels the opportunity to afford healthcare.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Well, we're getting rid of the individual mandate. We're getting rid of those things that people said that they don't want. And you know what? Americans have choices. And they've got to make a choice,” Chaffetz said on CNN on Monday. "And so maybe rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care."

Chaffetz's comparison between the price of an iPhone plan and the cost of healthcare coverage has sparked a lot of discussion on social media. As Lee Fang, a reporter for The Intercept pointed out, a public record that tracks Chaffetz's campaign donations revealed that the congressman spent $738 of his campaign donor's money at the Apple store in July 2016.

ADVERTISEMENT


ADVERTISEMENT

Many others have pointed out the false equivalency in Chaffetz's comparison between the costs of healthcare and an iPhone:

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Republicans Have No Idea How Much Healthcare Or iPhones Cost