Affordable Plumbing Act of 2014

Posted by $ TimCutler 9 years ago to Humor
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COURTESY CONSERVATIVE TRIBUNE: http://conservativetribune.com/obama-cal...

Only weeks after leaving office on Jan. 20, 2017, former President Barack Obama discovers a leak under his sink, so he calls Troy the Plumber to come out and fix it.

Troy drives to Obama’s new house, which is located in a very exclusive, gated community near Chicago where all the residents have a net income of way more than $250,000 per year.

Troy arrives and takes his tools into the house. He is led to the guest bathroom that contains the leaky pipe under the sink. Troy assesses the problem and tells Obama that it’s an easy repair that will take less than 10 minutes. Obama asks Troy how much it will cost. Troy checks his rate chart and says, “$9,500.”

“What?! $9,500?!” Obama asks, stunned, “But you said it’s an easy repair. Michelle will whip me if I pay a plumber that much!”

Troy says, “Yes, but what I do is charge those who make more than $250,000 per year a much higher amount so I can fix the plumbing of poorer people for free. This has always been my philosophy. As a matter of fact, I lobbied the Democrat Congress, who passed this philosophy into law. Now all plumbers must do business this way. It’s known as the ‘Affordable Plumbing Act of 2014′. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it.”

In spite of that, Obama tells Troy there’s no way he’s paying that much for a small plumbing repair, so Troy leaves. Obama spends the next hour flipping through the phone book calling for another plumber, but he finds that all other plumbing businesses in the area have gone out of business. Not wanting to pay Troy’s price, Obama does nothing and the leak goes un-repaired for several more days. A week later the leak is so bad Obama has had to put a bucket under the sink.

Michelle is not happy as she has Oprah and guests arriving the next morning. The bucket fills up quickly and has to be emptied every hour, and there’s a risk the room will flood, so Obama calls Troy and pleads with him to return.

Troy goes back to Obama’s house, looks at the leaky pipe, checks his new rate chart and says, “Let’s see, this will now cost you $21,000.”

Obama quickly fires back, “What? A few days ago you told me it would cost $9,500!”

Troy explains, “Well, because of the ‘Affordable Plumbing Act,’ a lot of wealthier people are learning how to maintain and take care of their own plumbing, so there are fewer payers in the plumbing exchanges. As a result, the price I have to charge wealthy people like you keeps rising. Not only that, but for some reason the demand for plumbing work by those who get it for free has skyrocketed! There’s a long waiting list of those who need repairs, but the amount we get doesn’t cover our costs, especially paperwork and record-keeping. This unfortunately has put a lot of my fellow plumbers out of business, they’re not being replaced, and nobody is going into the plumbing business because they know they can’t make any money at it. I’m hurting too, all thanks to greedy rich people like you who won’t pay their ‘fair share’. On the other hand, why didn’t you buy plumbing insurance last December? If you had bought plumbing insurance available under the ‘Affordable Plumbing Act,’ all this would have been covered by your policy.”

“You mean I wouldn’t have to pay anything to have you fix my plumbing problem?” asks Obama.

“Well, not exactly,” replies Troy. “You would have had to buy the insurance before the deadline, which has passed now. And, because you’re rich, you would have had to pay $34,000 in premiums, which would have given you a ‘silver’ plan, and then, since this would have been your first repair, you would have to pay up to the $21,000 deductible, and anything over that would have a $7,500 co-pay, and then there’s the mandatory maintenance program, which is covered up to 17.5%, so there are some costs involved. Nothing is for free.”

“WHAT?!” exclaims Obama. “Why so much for a puny sink leak?!”

With a bland look, Troy replies, “Well, paperwork, mostly, like I said. And the internal cost of the program itself. You don’t think a program of this complexity and scope can run itself, do you? Besides, there are millions of folks with lower incomes than you, even many in the ‘middle class’, who qualify for subsidies that people like you must support. That’s why they call it the ‘Affordable Plumbing Act’! Only people who don’t make much money can afford it. If you want affordable plumbing, you’ll have to give away most of what you have accumulated and cut your and Michelle’s income by about 90%. Then you can qualify to get your ‘Fair Share’ instead of giving it.”

“But who would pass a crazy act like the ‘Affordable Plumbing Act’?!” exclaims the exasperated Obama.

After a sigh, Troy replies, “Congress… because they didn’t read it.”

This anecdote, while amusing, is also extraordinarily truthful, in that Obamacare functions just like the fictional “Affordable Plumbing Act.”


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  • Posted by Mamaemma 9 years ago
    All I know is that all the right people- the plumbing supply companies, the people who provide plumbing insurance, all the new government employees who administer the Affordable Plumbing Act- these people are raking in a fortune! Meanwhile, all the houses have leaks. Too bad.
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  • Posted by Ibecame 9 years ago
    The sad thing is not only is this true, but it leaves out something of importance. Troy probably couldn't work on the plumbing and be covered under the insurance because it is unlikely that he is a plumber that is "Approved" under the plan. I went through dozens of insurance companies trying to find one that in that specific plan actually had a doctor that was still practicing and was signed up with that plan so it could be covered. I found the lists the insurance companies sent me were completely bogus when I called the doctors to verify if they were signed up to that specific plan. We (two of us) went from $380 per month to $1800 per month and we have to pay the first $9000 in copays before the insurance will pay anything. The old copays were #30 and a maximum of $950 in any year. Affordable means insurance ripoff.
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    • Posted by 2004done 9 years ago
      And THAT was the plan you wanted to keep? (sorry, but I couldn't help myself - my story isn't even 10% of yours, and I was understandably upset, I can imagine how you must feel).
      If it helps, the low-income 'gimme-gimme' voter across the street was happy with obamao's vote-getter until he found out what was no longer covered.
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      • Posted by Ibecame 9 years ago
        Historians will probably name this "The Great Swindle" and not be able to understand how we all could be so stupid. What we need is a Real Gulch with some Real Doctors.
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        • Posted by 2004done 9 years ago
          Unfortunately. It will probably be years before any non-subjective observer dares to evaluate. There ARE Gulches with Real Doctors, but only because they can keep separate. I hope to stumble upon another one again.
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          • Posted by Ibecame 9 years ago
            The technical and financial difficulties of putting together a real "Gulch" are formidable. A privately owned Island, or perhaps the Moon are the least likely places to suffer from government incursions, although no guarantee. In the meantime the phrase: 'Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's..." comes to mind.
            We can however become experts at finding clever ways to follow the rules to stay out of trouble. They can't keep a secret of how the moochers have made tremendous fortunes from the "Affordable Plumbing Act". When the little moochers figure that out, the least I can say about that is they will be very unhappy.
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            • Posted by 2004done 9 years ago
              Ibecame: Sounds to me as if you are already starting your own Gulch. I was not being literal (everybody knows where Ouray CO is); but 'become experts at finding clever ways to follow the rules to stay out of trouble' is what I was aiming at. Thanks. The thoughts and attitudes of honor and integrity are untaxable by Caesar, so far.
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              • Posted by Ibecame 9 years ago
                We became "aware" with ASP3, but I went on strike when I left Motorola 15 years ago. I didn't know about Ouray CO., Thanks. I hope they can be successful. We started worrying and looking at what we could do a couple of years ago when they started applying "Safe Grid" techniques to the power grid and putting it under computer control. We aren't doom sayers, but our philosophy is not to become a Darwin award winner when we could have had a backup plan.
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                • Posted by 2004done 9 years ago
                  Ouray supposedly was where Ayn Rand got the idea for a secluded valley, safe from mooching eyes, where the products of the mind could be produced, while she feared the rest of the US was being guided toward looters. I prefer to think those guided by reason form little gulches everywhere, evidenced by the AS movies attendees. Doomed-lives (Darwin Award Winners) are those that can't (won't) trust themselves to forecast trends and prefer to hear platitudes, so I'm glad to hear you plan. The "safe grid" sounds like something Rand might have thought up to illustrate the products of the State (which it must be- "Keep everyone afraid, and they'll all be forced to obey" - the power of a crisis). .
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                  • Posted by Ibecame 9 years ago
                    Sadly enough this came out of a idea I had and implemented at one of the plants when I was still a happy slave. The core of the now called "Safe Grid" was a method to "reduce brown outs" by balancing and tying two legs of two separate grids together. It worked great (business translation is that it worked and was cheap) to provide more stable power to a large industrial plant. My concern is that done on a large scale it (and I may be wrong) also makes the entire system into one large grid, instead of a bunch of smaller ones. Power companies have been utilizing this as a blanket fix. Now the government has caught on and I believe they see this as a way to "Nationalize" the grid. I think I saw somewhere in a movie that "Nationalizing" and controlling something this complex with incompetent people could have a downside. What I see is that if we loose power, here in Phoenix we loose water, AC, Heating, Gasoline, Food...
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                    • Posted by 2004done 9 years ago
                      Have you seen another Gulch Forum?: http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/28... ?

                      You should be proud of anything you accomplished with 'safe grid.' [Just because it was useful elsewhere, doesn't mean nuclear power is a bad idea, (there's hardly anything that can't be misused, even sunlight - just ask any ant nearby a 6 year with a magnifying glass)] (I enjoyed hearing from you, but I don't want to violate the forum rules).
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                    • Posted by freedomforall 9 years ago
                      and, if in summer, life.
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                      • Posted by 2004done 9 years ago
                        I might have to disagree on that. People have lived in Tucson for many pre A/C decades. Phoenix is much milder, but if people choose to live where they feel A/C is 'necessary, they should plan on providing it without a power grid in place, or move elsewhere.. [If someone chooses to live where they can't live, it would be wrong to prevent them from the consequences of their choice].
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                        • Posted by freedomforall 9 years ago
                          I lived there 3 times, and as a young person the heat wasn't a problem. The last time I lived there I started to understand how dangerous the heat could be under the wrong physical conditions. Phoenix was almost always hotter than Tucson in summer (per the tv meteorologists reports) when I lived there. (1982 central Phoenix, 1990-91 Squaw Peak, 1999-2004 Paradise Valley/Squaw Peak.)
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                          • Posted by 2004done 9 years ago
                            I just looked up average temperatures for Phoenix and Tucson, and despite variations in averages, I was surprised to find some averages were higher for Phoenix, as you said. I guess my impression from my time in Tucson (70's D-M) had me thinking Tucson was warmer (it always seemed cooler in Phoenix). Thank you for pointing out my premise was in error. I moved from there, and went to cooler climes (which have their own difficulties), but I can withstand cold better than heat (another jacket doesn't cool me down often).
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                            • Posted by freedomforall 9 years ago
                              In 1982-83 I had a trial of fire and water. My consulting engagements put me in Phoenix 6 months for the summer and Portland 6 months for the winter. I enjoyed both places (despite the extremes of weather) but climate in Portland didn't lure me back like Phoenix did. I would probably still live in AZ if the desert flora didn't aggravate my allergies. That and the conversion of Phoenix from a mostly conservative very large small town (1990-91) to a more liberal holier-than-thou-elite pro-mommy-state. That occurred in the 90's with the permanent immigration of anti-individual zombies from Chicago and Detroit, and the loss of conservative control of the AZ Republic.
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                        • Posted by khalling 9 years ago
                          I lived about 3 hours south and in between the two cities. My experience was that Phoenix was hotter. Partly due to less overall vegetation and where it's situated compared to the mountains.
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