RUSH: I’ve been holding this story since I found it on February 19th. It’s from a website called Medscape. Here’s the headline, and this is what intrigued me. “Insurance Exchanges Limit Access for Patients With Blood Cancer.” I said, “Whoa.” So I read it. Here are the highlights: Although Obamacare “will make it easier for patients with leukemia and lymphoma to obtain health insurance, it could inadvertently limit their access to care.

“According to a new report commissioned by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), a number of the health plans that are participating in the insurance exchanges offer limited access to National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer or transplant centers. This will substantially raise out-of-pocket costs for patients.”

It’s just another example of the horror story we’re getting out of Obamacare. Premiums are doubling, copays or the deductibles are tripling. In some cases, you get insurance but your hospital is not in the network. In some cases, you get insurance but your doctor is not in the network. In some cases, you get insurance but you’re not treated. That’s what’s happening here.

“‘Qualified health plans are sporadic at best and ineffective in covering NCI transplant and cancer centers,’ said Brian Rosen, JD, senior vice president of public policy at the LLS. ‘For example, in New York, we looked at major insurers in the exchanges and found that Memorial Sloan Kettering was not covered by many of them.'”

Memorial Sloan Kettering is where you want to end up.

Folks, that’s why what you’re doing today matters. It’s the kind of thing that helps overcome what has now become an obstacle in the nation’s health care system.

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RUSH: Open Line Friday. Back to the phones. This is Eric in Medford, Oregon. Hello, sir. Great to have you here.

CALLER: Hi. Thank you. Hey, I was calling just to say — and I’ve been trying to say it to really just about anybody — my problem with Obamacare isn’t so much that everybody ought to have health insurance. I’m for that. But he billed it as being “affordable,” and speaking for myself just in the state of Oregon, it’s not affordable.

The minimum plan you can get under the Obamacare plan is about $400 a month. I feel as though it’s much like when they made automobile insurance mandatory. They made it mandatory for you to have it, but they never set a limit on what could be charged for it, and in the state of Oregon, you know, $400 a month for somebody who’s making the minimum wage, that’s huge.

RUSH: I know. That’s why they call it the Affordable Care Act. That’s part of the lie. It isn’t affordable. But that’s why the government’s out there giving subsidies. Do you qualify for a subsidy? See, the trick is, you can’t afford it unless your neighbors help you buy it. That is the hook: Subsidies.

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RUSH: Eric in Medford, Oregon, hung up after he asked the question and made a good point. Obamacare’s not affordable. The Affordable Care Act isn’t affordable. Obama knows that. He lied about this $2,500 premium reduction. He lied.

He told you three years, “You can keep your doctor if you like your doctor. You can keep your plan if you like your plan.” If I had a member of the Regime here — for example, if I had the strikingly beautiful and attractive young new secretary of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Burwell (ahem) — she would say, “Well, that’s why we have subsidies.

“For those of you who can’t afford it, we are offering subsidies.” Now, here’s how the subsidy works. To qualify for a subsidy, you have to earn no more than 400% of the federal poverty level. A family of four, you can qualify for a subsidy, I think, if you earn 87 grand. If your family income’s $87,000, you can qualify for a subsidy.

Now, what is a subsidy?

A subsidy is your neighbors paying what you can’t afford.

(New Castrati impression) “That’s not what it is, Mr. Limbaugh! That’s not it at all. It’s the federal government pays it.”

Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. New Castrati. You’re right. The federal government is paying it. But, Mr. New Castrati, where does the federal government get its money? It prints it or it takes it from the people somehow, some way. It is your neighbors, your friends, and people you don’t know who are paying what you can’t afford.

And, by the way, according to the latest numbers, if they’re believable — whatever the number of enrollees — four out of five enrollees are on subsidies. Four out of five. The latest projected Obamacare cost is $2 trillion. The question has been raised, “Well, look, got 30 or 40 million people are uninsured.

“Why didn’t we just subsidize them instead of totally blowing up the health care system?

We could have just taken $300 billion and pay for it and insure ’em and be done with it.” But that would not give the Regime control over the population. That would not give them control over one-sixth of the economy.

That was just a ruse to get people to support it based on compassion, so forth. “Oh, we’re gonna help you the uninsured? Oh, wonderful!” Eighty-three percent of enrollees are getting subsidies right now. It’s not just a welfare program; it’s a transfer of wealth program. It is wealth redistribution, disguised as a health care plan.

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RUSH: Andrew in Flemington, New Jersey, welcome to the program, sir. Open Line Friday. Hello.

CALLER: Well, thank you for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet, sir.

CALLER: I would like to propose a solution to the Affordable Health Care Law. I think what we should do is bring in one person from every state, sit ’em down in a room, and ask ’em a very simple question. What are the problems with the health care industry and what are your solutions? The 50 people we bring in are zero lawyers, zero lobbyists, zero politicians. We should bring in 15 nurses. Nurses are the backbone of the health care profession. They know this stuff inside and out; they know the problems and the solutions.

RUSH: Yeah, we’ve heard from the nurses on this.

CALLER: Pardon me?

RUSH: Well, what do you think they would say? You got an idea? What would you say to fix it?

CALLER: Well, I don’t pretend to know the health care system. I mean, I think we should rely on the people that do know it and not the politicians. The politicians pretend that they know the inner workings of the health care profession.

RUSH: You know, I think that’s right. Isn’t it amazing? They also claim to know they know the oil business better than the people run that. They also know the energy business better than people that run that. They know the weather and the climate business better than the people in that business.

CALLER: Oh, absolutely. They’re an expert on whatever you want to ask ’em about. We should actually rely on the nurses. They know this stuff.

RUSH: Well, I agree. Rely on the professionals in the businesses, people that run the hospitals, people that run doctor’s offices, doctors, nurses, and so forth. But Obama co-opted great numbers of those people in the process of selling them. It was a great lure to be tapped by the president to help him advance his health care reform act, and a lot of people thought that it was actually gonna be good health care reform.

There’s this giant lure to being so close to tower and being tapped by the president, to be able to go to the Rose Garden, stand behind him in your official white doctor coat. That picture alone sent the signal to a lot of people that this was good and okay. But Obama knows more than any of these nurses — and this new Health and Human Services secretary, she does, too.

That’s what we are supposed to believe.

Andrew, I thank you for the call.

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RUSH: Here is Wayne in Lawrence, Michigan. Great to have you. I’m glad you called, sir. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thanks for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet.

CALLER: Hey, I just want to tell you about something I don’t hear everybody talking about with the subsidies for the Obamacare premiums. I have a daughter turning 26 in a few months, so she’s gonna have to get off my policy and get her own. Her income was based on a subsidy, but because she lives in my home, she has to go by my income. That means her premium is gonna be 10 times higher than if she was on her own, even though I’m not paying her bill.

RUSH: Wait, wait. I’m not sure I understood this. Her premium or your premium is gonna be 10 times higher?

CALLER: Hers is.

RUSH: When she moves out?

CALLER: No. When she turns 26, she leaves my insurance and has to purchase her own.

RUSH: Okay.

CALLER: And it’s not based on her income. Even though she’s the only one paying the premium, she has to use my income because she lives in my home.

RUSH: Right, so she will or will not qualify for the subsidy?

CALLER: She will not qualify. She’ll end up paying a high premium even though she does not make a lot of money.

RUSH: Well, that kind of confuses me. I don’t know what her being or not being on your policy would have to do with it. She’s out on her own. If she makes more than 400% of the poverty level, then she would not qualify for a subsidy. Anything less than that and she will. Well, hell, I don’t know what happens. Your income, I don’t think, has anything to do with it.

CALLER: It does. When you go, they ask for the entire household’s income, to base their premium.

RUSH: Yeah, I would think your household income would not qualify you for a subsidy ’cause you’re way above, if you’re combining incomes.

CALLER: Yeah, but why should she be penalized based on my income for her premium?

RUSH: I’m not sure I understand. Are you able to get a subsidy now? Is she able to get a subsidy now and when she gets off your policy, she won’t be able to get a subsidy?

CALLER: No. I work for a company that provides us insurance as a family.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: But when she turns 26, she’s no longer on that and has to purchase her own.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: It will not be based just on her income. If she lived in an apartment on her own, she would get a subsidy. But because she lives in my home she has to pay full price, even though I’m not helping pay the bill.

RUSH: I am totally confused. The numbers aren’t making sense to me. I don’t know why she’s being penalized. That’s what I can’t figure out. (interruption) It doesn’t. This doesn’t make any sense. That’s what I’m having trouble figuring it out. It doesn’t make any sense. Why in the world should she be penalized simply because she’s now old enough to get kicked off of your policy? She still should qualify for the subsidy if the formula fits her.

CALLER: Well, the formula doesn’t fit her because they have to use my income as well as hers combined.

RUSH: Oh. Oh. Okay. Even though she’s not on your policy, they count your income.

CALLER: Correct.

RUSH: Because she’s living at home, she’s considered part of the family income.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Okay. That’s where I got confused ’cause I thought you said earlier in the call she didn’t live with you. That’s what I was having trouble figuring out.

CALLER: I’m sorry. She does.

RUSH: Okay. Okay. Well, I’ll guarantee you that whoever wrote this stupid monstrosity does not even know that. This is one of the countless millions of things, unintended consequences that they had no clue was gonna happen. All they wanted — the only thing they wanted, Wayne — was the political salesmanship involved in, “You can stay on your parents’ policy until you’re 26.”

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: They just wanted the young person’s vote, and they wanted family votes, supporting kids. Now all of a sudden she turns 26 and she can’t stay on your policy, but she’s under your roof. Uh-oh. I guarantee you, since all of this is political, this is not based on anything that makes fiscal financial sense at all. No aspect of this makes any kind of dollars and cents sense.

CALLER: Not at all.

RUSH: It was all political. That’s what you’ve run up against here. I apologize for being so thickheaded. I misunderstood. I thought she was not living with you. Maybe that’s the answer: Move out. You know, because 400% of the poverty level for family of four is $95,400. So anything under that, you qualify for a subsidy. I’ll guarantee you, 400% of the federal poverty level for family of one $47,000 a year.

So if she makes over 47K, she wouldn’t qualify. If she makes under 47K, she would, and only you know the answer to that question. But I guarantee you the reason why this doesn’t makes sense is because it doesn’t make sense, and the whole thing was political. It’s just like the preexisting condition thing, purely a political sales point to get votes. It wasn’t based on actual preexisting condition compassion.

None of what they do is.

It was all politicized. Everything is politicized. Please, ladies and gentlemen, if there is one thing and only one thing that you take away from this program for however many years you listen, everything the Democrat Party does — everything, every issue, every supposed act of kindness and compassion — it is all political. And by that, I mean, it has a political intention.

It’s part of a political agenda to advance the interests of the Democrat Party, not you. There’s no way a 25-year-old person is a child. There’s no way a 26-year-old person is a child. But for the purposes of the Democrat Party, all of a sudden everybody 25 or under is a child so that they can stay on their parents’ policy. Well, that…

“Wow, I love the Democrats, man! They really care about me and my family. I’m voting for them. Those Republicans don’t care.” That’s the objective of that. What happens to your daughter now? I’m sure it’s a problem for ’em because she may not be happy with the Regime, but they got what they wanted out of it at the time.

This is how they’re gonna be dealing with the fix. Every fix is gonna be political. That’s why all the delays; that’s why all the waivers. It’s all political. It isn’t based on you having better coverage. It isn’t based on you having better insurance. It isn’t based on you getting treated and it isn’t based on fairness. It’s based on, “How does the Democrat Party enhance, improve, entrench its power?”

Period.