February, 2017, Part 6, The Unfolding Disaster That Is Obama Care: Real Life Hardship Stories As A Result Of 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.

Today we will focus on some distressing and sad stories of real Americans sufferings as a result of Obama Care, the worst piece of legislation ever passed by Washington. The source of these real stories is the website:

www.ourhealthcarestories.com

Through their eyes and experiences you will see what we have been discussing in this blog for the past few years: higher costs, lower choices, less job opportunities, loss of access to preferred doctors, etc. Anyone who thinks Obama Care is still a good thing after reading their stories is delusional.

ROSE - PENNSYLVANIA: I can not believe what has happened to my health insurance at work. Last year it cost me about 85.00 a month with 80% coverage. This year it doubled! I now pay 171.00 and for less coverage, as with a very high deductible! When I went to the Doctors just recently, they paid only 0.896 cents. Last year they covered the cost at 80%, so I do not know how they calculate or what my deductible is! I have to get blood work done, sure it will cost a lot more this year! When I called my benefits office they claim it's because of the new laws. Tried to cancel my insurance due to the fact I can not afford to pay them, and they claim company policy I can not unless I have a different insurance or leave the job. Why shouldn't I be able to get rid of something I can not afford?

TIM - VIRGINIA: From an NPR report with John Ydstie: 

YDSTIE: Tim Blanchard(ph), a law student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville liked the $46 a month Humana policy he had, too. It's being discontinued and he doesn't know yet whether he'll be able to get it back.

TIM BLANCHARD: I certainly think that if the old policy was available at anything close to the price that I'm currently paying, I would stick with it in a heartbeat.

YDSTIE: Blanchard knows he got the old policy cheaply because he's young and healthy. But he thinks that's fair.

BLANCHARD: Me having to pay for, you know, people who don't take care of themselves, people who are old, people who are sick, I mean, that's really a hidden tax.

CYNTHIA - VERMONT: I not only have to pay a higher premium, but I can not afford the deductable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PATRICIA - MINNESOTA: In order to keep my monthly payment the same, I had to raise my annual deductible from $3,000.00 to $5,000.00. I also lost the three times each year that I could go to the doctor for a $30.00 co-pay. I also lost the flat fee I paid on prescriptions of $10.00 for generic and $25.00 for non-generic. These items I now pay from dollar one. This conceivably could cost me a lot of money each year.

AARON - LOUISIANA: Scalise extended his invitation to Aaron Hirsh, 44, an Information Technology (IT) consultant, who says his previous health care coverage was cancelled and that the replacement policy offered by the insurer comes with higher premiums -- from $568 a month to $1,019. Hirsh said the policy was cancelled because it didn't meet the minimum coverage requirements of the new law, and while the president has said such policies could continue for another year, he hasn't gotten that option from his insurer.

Hirsh said he is still shopping, and will look at the Affordable Care Act's exchanges to see if they offer a lower cost option. The new higher cost policy, he said, has coverage for maternity care that he and his wife, parents of two children, feel they don't need, along with something he likes -- dental coverage for the kids. The dental coverage will provide savings, Hirsh said, though "it won't make it a wash by any means" with what he was paying previously.

MARK - ALASKA: [Mark Knapp] and his wife Angel own a custom knife shop in Fairbanks. Until last December, they were happy paying $750 a month for health insurance from Premera. But because the plan didn’t meet Affordable Care Act requirements, it was canceled. President Obama then extended many canceled plans for a year, but the Knapp’s plan didn’t qualify:

“So we decided we’d shop around.”

On healthcare.gov, Knapp found a similar plan to the one the couple had for $1260 a month. The subsidy they qualified for brought the cost down to about $600. But Knapp says he and his wife didn’t feel right about accepting a subsidy:

“It doesn’t really fall under affordable health care to me, even though I wasn’t going to pay it all, somebody was going to have to pay it for me.”

So instead, the Knapps found a new policy through a small business organization they belong too. The monthly premium is $850:

“So that’s about $100 a month more than what we were getting it for with Premera.”

It’s also $250 more than what they would be required to pay on healthcare.gov. The plan doesn’t comply with the Affordable Care Act, so it’s scheduled to be canceled at the end of this year. After that, Knapp isn’t sure what he and his wife will do, but he says they won’t ever feel right about accepting a subsidy

TOM: My premiums were $399 a month for my family. Cheapest plan with the same deductible that qualifies for ObamaCare is $743/month.

JANETTE - CALIFORNIA: The chiropractor who expects her premiums to rise, the 60s-something company manager who has to pay for maternity coverage, the Simi Valley contractor and many others who make at least $46,000 a year -- they all pound away at the same rhythm.

They say the middle class is once again getting tattooed, this time by President Barack Obama's health care reform.

"However you look at it, the son of a gun lied to us," said Janette Ramsey, a Bakersfield business owner with a weekend home in Ventura. She's losing her current coverage and expects to pay $50 more a month for a policy with nearly double the deductible.

"I think it's an abomination," she said. "... I'm going to pay more and get 100 percent less."

STEVE - MASSACHUSETTS: Premiums went up 104% overnight so had to decrease coverage substantially to keep similar premium. Not surprised at all tho, exactly as expected. Much higher cost for lower quality service.

REBECCA - COLORADO: From Complete Colorado:

– a health exchange navigator in Colorado told a woman with a cancelled health plan she’ll pay more in monthly premiums to continue seeing her long-time physician. At least $140 more a month

– or $1,680 a year.

Ryan previously paid a premium of $375 a month from “CoverColorado,” a government-run plan intended to provide insurance for people with pre-existing conditions. However, in the wake of the new rules from the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Cover Colorado and all of its nearly 14.000 plans were terminated.

Replacing her plan with the least expensive option through the “Connect for Health Colorado” site could save Ryan $15 a month, but would also require her to switch doctors.

However, choosing a plan that allows her to continue seeing her doctor, who has treated her for approximately the last nine years, will cost her $515 a month, $140 more than Ryan was previously paying.

KELLY - GEORGIA: After losing our home to foreclosure, I tried to comply with the "Affordable" Health Care Act by finding insurance. What a farce! I have been unemployed so long I don't even "count" on the rolls as unemployed OR as a displaced worker, because I can't collect unemployment. My husband is on Medicare as he is semi retired. We are in terrible financial straights, and I was eligible for medicaid, according to my income. HOWEVER, I kept getting bounced to the ObamaCare site instead. The best I could do was $160 a month payment, which I CANNOT pay, with a $6,000 deductible! So, if I actually wanted ACCESS to healthcare, I would first need $6000, which I don't have. I have serious problems and cant see a doctor or get the medical scans I need. Also, I think it is DESPICABLE that my child and grand kids will be stuck with the bill for this

That’s enough bad news for today. As you can see, the high levels numbers that we often discuss do relate to real life hardships for millions of Americans across the country, as illustrated by these stories listed above. Anyone who tells you that Obama Care is working is a fool and an ignorant fool at that. More unfolding disasters from this wretched piece of legislation next month.

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