A Fox News interview that was presumably intended to bash President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law took a left turn on Sunday when the guest admitted that he could only afford insurance for the first time thanks to Obamacare.
KUSA reported last week that around 3,600 health insurance policy holders had their plans canceled because the design of the state's website disabled auto-renewal if the customer shopped for another plan. Insurance carriers have said that they would restore coverage for all of those customers retroactive to Januanry 1. And the state has pledged to improve the website.
In an interview on Sunday, Colorado resident Steven Roussel told Carlson that he was "signed up for a plan that I did not want" because of the confusion.
"So, before I ask you what happened next, can you just give us a little background here?" Carlson asked. "Were you happy or dissatisfied with your healthcare before Obamacare?"
"Well, I didn't have any healthcare before the Affordable Healthcare Act went in," Roussel explained. "And it was because of that, that I was actually able to afford it. However, this year with the premiums jumping up, I have to make a little bit more of a tighter budget to figure out how to pay for the extra premiums that are coming my way."
"So, you were the guy they passed Obamacare for," Carlson concluded. "You had your policy canceled, you were signed up for something you didn't want, you had never heard of, never asked for."
"Maybe you should go on a national TV show and like complain about it," the Fox News host quipped. "Have you thought about that?"
"I called back on Friday, and I was on hold for 30 minutes, and nobody picked up," Roussel said.
"I'm sorry," Carlson giggled. "I'm sorry, I'm laughing bitterly and I'm on your side, of course. So, how do you feel about the whole Obamacare experiment?"
Roussel argued that healthcare reform was "a little bit of a fail" in his case.
"But it's not necessarily the president's fault," he pointed out. "It's more the CEOs fault that knew about the glitch in the system and did nothing about it. And now, he's back peddling in order to figure out exactly how to fix it for the 3,700 Coloradoans that no longer have insurance."
