Really, CNN? “Sex Workers Embrace Obamacare”

Last updated on: November 1, 2013 at 8:21 am by Jane the Actuary

Really, CNN? “Sex Workers Embrace Obamacare” 2013-11-01T08:21:00-06:00 Jane the Actuary

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That’s one of the top links at cnn.com today, bringing one, oddly, to a “small business”-categorized report that hookers, er, sorry, sex workers are flocking to Obamacare.

The article profiles a “sex worker” (actual activities unspecified) who calls herself “Siouxsie Q” who’s happy to be buying health insurance. Like any self-employed individual, she didn’t have health insurance from her employer and, the article tells us, prior to Obamacare, “she and her partner recently reviewed their healthcare options and found that a joint plan would have cost between $400 and $500 a month — an unaffordably large chunk of their incomes.”

Now, we read, “come January 1, when the new law goes into effect, she and her partner will be looking at a monthly bill of between $175 and $200. They’re deciding between two plans on the California exchange and will receive a tax credit of about $275 a month (without the credit it would have cost nearly $500).”

So the plan cost hasn’t decreased — it’s just that now she’s eligible for subsidies. And what the article tells us, but doesn’t really acknowledge, is the reason why Obamacare is such a boon, why they’re enjoying such generous subsidies, is that they work under the table, and receive subsidies based on only their reported income:

Individuals making less than $46,000 are eligible for a tax credit to offset their monthly costs. Many of the sex workers at the event file W-2s for their legal work, whether it be a part-time job or sex work that falls within the law. Sex workers interviewed by CNNMoney estimated this income to be less than $45,000 a year.

So, in other words, in addition to being tax cheats, they’re now cheating the rest of us by claiming subsidies they don’t deserve. (How much is their total income? Would they, if it was reported — and, last I read, the IRS had mechanisms to enable one to report income from any kind of activity, legal or not — actually be eligible for these or any subsidies? CNN doesn’t bother to ask these questions.) But, to CNN, it’s just another Obamacare success story, helping people in need of healthcare.

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