December, 2016, Part 3, The Unfolding Disaster That Is Obama Care: Personal Stories of Stress and Hassles of Americans' Dealings Withg Obama Care

Every month for years now we have had to discuss how bad Obama Care is turning out to be under the continuing theme, “the unfolding disaster that is Obama Care.” This month is no different. As the legislation continues to march through America, driving up health care and health insurance prices as it serves as dead weight on economic growth, it cements its rightful place as the worst piece of legislation Washington has ever produced.

It never had a chance to be successful since it really never addressed the underlying root causes of our ever increasing health costs in the country:

• Americans eat too much of the wrong kind of food, resulting in obscenely high obesity rates for the country.
• Our food chain is infested with overdoses of high fructose corn syrup, salt, and other unhealthy additives.
• Americans smoke too much.
• Americans do not exercise enough.
• The country is in serious need of health care tort reform.
• Barriers to insurance company competition across state lines need to come down.
• Obama Care never “followed the money” to find out who is actually profiting from the ever escalating healthcare costs in this country and how to get those factors under control.
• Obama Care never got the immense amount of fraud and abuse in current government healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid, under control in order to save money to efficiently fund other government health care initiatives.
• Obama Care never put serious research money towards curing the major diseases that drive high healthcare costs such as high frequency cancers and dementia type diseases.

You cannot resolve any problem unless you understand and address the underlying root causes. No difference here: Obama Care legislation never addressed these listed root causes and thus, has no chance of ever being successful.

But it is not just missing the root causes of our healthcare costs that makes Obama Care so horrible. It resulted in millions of Americans losing access to their favored doctors, hospitals, and insurance policies. It has caused insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays to escalate substantially. It will likely add trillions of dollars to the national debt. It has exposed millions of Americans to higher than necessary identity theft chances. It has created government bureaucracies that are wastefully spending taxpayer wealth and being exploited by criminal elements. It has stifled economic growth and job creation.

These are just a sample of the types of idiocy that we have been reviewing for the past several years in this blog relative to Obama Care., To read those past posts, just enter the phrase, “the unfolding disaster,” in the search box above.

This week we have be reviewing the latest unfolding disasters from the worst piece of legislation ever written by Washington. Today we will focus on personal stories of Americans from across the country who have had their lives and health care disrupted by Obama Care. The source of this anguish is the website:

www.ourhealthcarestories.com

MARJORIE - NEW YORK: I lost my favorite doctor and I got a notice that my plan will be changing in 2014, but no explanation.

This is absurd that this has been allowed to occur in the United States.

JULIE - NEW MEXICO: Last June, Birch received a letter from Lovelace Insurance warning her that her coverage would be terminated. However, it told her to wait for more information before she did anything. The months rolled past and no phone call came. She paid her premium in December, assuming everything was sorted out. However, on January 4, 2014, she was told her insurance was cancelled and she would have to log onto the New Mexico healthcare exchange. So she did.

After spending two hours filling personal information into the ever-growing ACA database, the system stopped her from enrolling her children. It needed to determine if her sons were eligible for Medicaid. The error message promised that a state representative would contact her, but no one has. When she tried to call, the wait was 45 minutes.

Birch wasn’t eligible for the marketplace’s Platinum plan, but the next best thing – the Gold plan – offered her comparable care for $519.23 a month with a $3,000 deductible—an increase of over $175 a month with no coverage for her children caught in Medicaid limbo.

Her frustration escalated not because the cost increased and her children were uninsured, but because none of the plans let her keep her primary care or orthopedic doctors.

"This is just downright unacceptable," Birch said. "You develop relationships [with doctors] for a reason."

RICHARD - MONTANA: I'm currently paying $229 per month on a plan from Humana that does exactly what I want. It'll keep me from going broke if something bad happens.

That Humana plan does not comply with ObamaCare. So it will be cancelled at some point. Originally it was scheduled to be cancelled at the end of 2014, now I'm not sure if it will be extended to 2016 or what.

The least expensive policy I could find that complied with Ocare was about $500/mo. and that was for this year. My understanding is that compliant policies for 2015 will be about 20% higher. I hope I can keep the current policy for next year, but I don't know. I am displeased.

MARIANNE - OHIO: Have had affordable insurance my entire life, both individual, and employer based. Now I am uninsured due to the huge premiums and deductible I found on the exchange when I lost my coverage as of 12/31/13. Never has insurance been based on my income and never have I been so devastated to find the premiums for my son and I more than a house payment. Thankfully, I HAD a great affordable plan last year when I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery, chemo and radiation. I am SO VERY fearful of this returning even though the oncologist said I am cured. No insurance and I absolutely cannot afford this. As a young widow who lost my husband to cancer, I am the sole provider and parent to my son. This law is unjust and I am just sick with worry without insurance for the first time in our lives.

TINA - VIRGINIA: From The American Spectator:

In the fall of 2013, Cordova received a memo regarding the company-wide decision that the Cheesecake Factory would no longer offer plans to part-time employees starting in January of 2014—the famed start date for Obamacare coverage. The memo instructed employees to go to the ACA website for new coverage options.

When the Obamacare website went live in October of 2013, Cordova tried and failed to log on every day for the first week. Two weeks later, she was able to access the information she needed. “The cheapest plan was $170 in premiums and it offered way less services. I didn’t qualify for a subsidy,” she recalled.

[. . .] Cordova ended up settling for a non-ACA plan with a $169 premium and slightly higher copays.

KATHY - SOUTH CAROLINA: My husband and I have always paid our own health insurance as he is small business owner. sole proprietor . In Oct 2013 I decided to check for new insurance in hope of cheaper rates since Obamacare was available then. we had been paying over $600 a month for the two of us, over 50, for the past two years at the time. I applied for only me insurance and was quoted $303.... which was good for me.. my husband would use the VA if needed.. tho he never gets sick. I cancelled my other policy..then two weeks after my new $303 policy I received a letter that it would be increased to $598 due to preexisitng conditions. I can not afford this of course so I cancelled and now I am without insurance. I have found that being a self pay person for doctors office is way less than a monthly premium.. I will just be unable to get sick with anything such as cancer, diabetes, heart problems, or an other illness that requires extensive care.. So much for the Obamacare helping this American!

MARLENE - CALIFORNIA: After being promised by Obama that we could keep our present insurance, I soon realized that was just another lie as my insurance was canceled. I am now paying twice the price every month for something "similar" to what I had. Previous I was allowed 5 doctor visits a year for a $40 co-pay. Now I get two visits a year for $50 co-pay per visit. In addition the detectable is so high and the insurance covers so little that I often get a $200-$500 bill after the doctor visit.

ANDREA - NEBRASKA: Reporter: Insurance companies cancelled millions on peoples' policies because those policies did not meet the new Obamacare requirements. We did find an Omaha family who did not lose theirs, but will pay a lot more.

Reporter: She currently pays about $440 a month, but starting January 1st her rates will increase to $726. In the letter, Blue Cross and Blue Shield stated that her current plan didn't meet the Affordable Care Act standards.

Andrea: Now we have inpatient substance abuse care.. Now we have  maternity. I already made the choice that I'm done, I have two children, and I'm done with my family.

SHARYL - TEXAS: I have always had health insurance...I was covered by my parents' policy until I got married, through my husband's employer for the 25 year duration of my marriage, and through my own employer since my divorce three years ago. I lost my job in November 2013, and for the first time in my life, I had to seek out a personal medical insurance policy for myself. Thank heavens for Obamacare...right? Not exactly…

Because I was a stay-at-home wife and mother for 25 years, I had no established career history to lean on after my divorce. I was lucky to land my first job so quickly after my divorce became final in 2011, but without any real work experience, I'm having no luck finding a replacement job now. I'm a 48-year-old, moderately-educated woman with no job history competing with masses of highly-skilled -- and younger -- job seekers in a ferociously competitive job market. No matter how smart or skilled I am, I just can't compete... so while I'm still job-hunting and scheduled to return to college this Fall to improve my "viability", I'm now forced to seek out a personal insurance policy to avoid breaking the law.

I have four children, aged 18-26, the three youngest of whom are currently attending college. These three still live with me and receive most of their support from me while in school. They all work part-time and use their earnings to pay for their cars and gas and to offset some of their out-of-pocket tuition costs. Thankfully, they're still covered under their father's employer-sponsored health insurance plan. I receive no child support for them, and they receive little-to-no financial assistance from their father (other than the court-ordered insurance). I receive a very reasonable amount of monthly alimony which is what we now live on exclusively. I fall into that strange middle-class black hole that seems to exist in our country's financial structure. I make too much to qualify for any assistance and far too little to qualify for the tax breaks and other financial opportunities that the wealthy enjoy. I live paycheck-to-paycheck like most people. It takes every penny I have each month to support my (modest) home and my children's education.

So when I tried to purchase health insurance through the healthcare.gov website, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I qualify for a small subsidy towards my premiums...until I actually saw the cost of the plans and the crazy-high deductibles that were available in my price range. I have an auto-immune condition requiring monthly maintenance medications which typically cost me around $350/month, without insurance, plus office visits. If I were to divert those funds towards health insurance costs, I would need to have immediate use of the coverage to afford office visits and medication. But the deductibles are all so high that I would be paying $400-or-more each month on the premiums yet still have to pay several hundred dollars per month for my treatment until my deductible is met. I can't do both...I am forced to choose between obeying the law by paying for insurance that I can't use or breaking the law so that I can spend that money on my actual healthcare needs. If I were employed, I would have no issues. As I mentioned, my alimony just covers all of my monthly bills and the other living expenses for myself and my children...my job earnings would put me in a great place financially.

It's tragic that middle-class Americans have been reduced to such restrictive options. I want to pay my own way in life...government assistance is not something I've ever needed or wanted. But when I need just a little bit of help, it's not available to me. I pay my own bills, and I pay a significant amount in taxes each year. When do I get a break? I'm so tired of standing in line behind people at the grocery store as they pay for steaks and other items with food stamps... items that I can't afford to buy. I'm tired of hearing about the vacations and shopping sprees enjoyed by people that I know for a fact receive Medicaid and other government assistance...luxuries that I can't afford as a self-payer. I don't mind doing without, but I greatly resent paying my taxes each year knowing that the recipients of my tax dollars are living a better life than my children and I are.

Obama, just give me a little back so I can take care of my healthcare responsibilities without breaking the law!

SUSAN - FLORIDA: Our policy last year went from 600.00 a month to 700.00 a month, then we just received a new letter a week ago saying that our policy is going from 700.00 a month to 1050.00 a month, plus raising our deductable from 10,000 to 12,000.00 a year. This start in Jan. We must repeal Obamacare.

There you have it: higher premiums, higher deductibles, current policies cancelled, access to favored doctors terminated, etc. Worst piece of legislation ever passed. More unfolding disasters next month.

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