Fox News viewer: ObamaCare saved my life
Ariel Skelley/Corbis Images


Here's a story Democrats may want to tout again and again heading into the midterm elections.
Pennsylvania logger Dean Angstadt needed valve-replacement surgery to fix a life-threatening heart problem, but he wasn't sure he could afford the procedure, as the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday. Though Angstadt was initially leery of ObamaCare, he signed up after enough prodding from a friend, enrolling in a plan that in the first month cost him just $26.11.
New plan in hand, Angstadt got the surgery and pulled through. "I could have done backflips if I was in better shape," he told the Inquirer.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
So why did he resist enrolling in ObamaCare for so long? As he explained to the Washington Post's Erik Wemple, he's a Fox News guy who trusted Republicans' dire warnings about the law.
MSNBC and other liberal-leaning outlets are promoting the story as proof that the law works, and that a powerful GOP messaging war has wrongly turned vulnerable folks away from it. And indeed, there's some merit to that claim. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey last month found that people were more likely to support ObamaCare provisions if they didn't know they were part of ObamaCare. And another poll last year found that though 46 percent of Americans opposed "ObamaCare," only 36 percent opposed the Affordable Care Act, even though the two are one and the same.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
-
Zohran Mamdani: the young progressive likely to be New York City's next mayor
In The Spotlight The policies and experience that led to his meteoric rise
-
The best film reboots of all time
The Week Recommends Creativity and imagination are often required to breathe fresh life into old material
-
'More must be done'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, change
Speed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panel
speed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kids
Speed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sick
speed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last year
speed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
-
Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive order
speed read The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles
Speed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study finds
Speed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia