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IN DROVES: Thousands of gun owners have spent their own time and
money to sign up for concealed carry. |
About 61,000 have selected an insurance plan through the state's Obamacare website, according to numbers from the state.
In three months.
Of the 21,794 people who have applied for a permit to carry a gun,
police have deemed 1,600 invalid or incomplete.
State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, said when considering Illinois
has been promoting Obamacare for years, and spending hundreds of
millions of dollars to do so, the numbers — 61,111 — seem even more
outrageous.
"These (gun owners) are individuals who have taken the time on their
own to get the training, to get all that's required to get a
license," Syverson said. "Without any government assistance, without spending
money, without encouragement from the government to get people to sign up."
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services disclosed the
Obamacare numbers Monday, but the agency did not say how many people
in the state have bought health insurance, nor did HHS expound on
demographics.
Syverson said most of the people in Illinois signing up for
Obamacare are refugees from the state's high-risk insurance pool.
"At least 75 percent of these people are individuals that already
had insurance. They are just switching to a different plan," Syverson told Illinois Watchdog.
"So the number of uninsured people that have signed up really is probably closer
to 10,000 to 15,000."
The Illinois State Police expect as many as 400,000 people to apply
for gun permits. If the pace continues, Illinois will see 240,000
applications in just three months.
[to top of second column] |
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OBAMACARE EQUALS MEDICAID: In Illinois, Medicaid has boomed under Obamacare. |
The only way Obamacare can get close to those kind of numbers is
factoring in the state's massive explosion in Illinois' Medicaid
population.
Mike Claffey, Illinois' health-care spokesman, said Illinois has
enrolled 136,000 people into Medicaid since Obamacare launched in
October. That includes 70,000 people from a pilot program in 2013.
State Rep. Adam Brown, R-Champaign, says there are reasons
concealed carry is far more popular in Illinois than Obamacare.
"You see a stark difference throughout my community, where folks are
resistant to give up rights through Obamacare. You're not going to
have the freedom to select your care provider, you're not going to
have the freedom to select your insurance plan," Brown said. "Of
course, with concealed carry you're protecting those liberties that
our Founding Fathers fought and died for."
___
Contact Benjamin Yount at
Ben@IllinoisWatchdog.org and find him
on Twitter:
@BenYount.
[This
article courtesy of
Illinois Watchdog.]
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