There was a time when I would've considered the ACA unnecessary. That I would've been annoyed by it. This was also a time where I had little to no interest in politics. It's funny how life has a way of humbling a person and teaching them something new about themselves on a regular basis. This is a story about how I ended up needing the help in order to make myself better.
"Well why didn't you just get a new inhaler?" I felt a sinking pit in my stomach. I was at a follow up visit to my doctor after ending up in the ER a few weeks before because bronchitis had made my asthma worse and I couldn't breathe. The first thing my doctor asked me was where my inhaler was when this had happened. After all, that was in my plan. I tried to explain to her that I only had one inhaler and it had been stolen the week before when I was riding the bus. Somehow, despite my explanation she didn't understand that since I was uninsured at the time, I just couldn't afford a new one. It was only after the ER trip that a friend of mine had pity on me and bought the inhaler for me.
I lost my insurance in April 2012 because I had been working at a call center that had outsourced its customer service department overseas. This was my fourth lay off in about six years. The whole time I had been trying to go back to school but in playing musical jobs I had never managed to do so. I decided to make school my focus and work secondary and deal with it.
Because I have asthma, I've never been able to get insurance without going through my work before. COBRA would've cost me over six hundred a month, and while my state had opened a high risk pool, it was still too expensive. My NP was awesome and made sure I got refills of my medication before I lost my insurance and gave me a list of community services for when I did lose it, because she knew I wouldn't be able to come back afterwards.
I did everything I could to make sure I would be taken care of. I signed up for a prescription plan at a local pharmacy, I found local clinic that was free, run on community donations. Still there are things that free clinics couldn't handle. Waiting all week to see a doctor because you got sick on Sunday and the free clinic is only open on Saturday isn't helpful when you're so sick you can't breathe. The doctors are volunteers so there's no guarantee of continuous care. In fact, the push is to get you into a local public health or community clinic, but they often were not taking new adult patients or were an hour drive away.
It was about a month after I lost my insurance when I found a lump on my right side, along the edge of the breast tissue. The free clinic provided me a referral but when I called the places they suggested I was turned away. I was told I was too young, that the office no longer provided services, or that they were out of funds for the year. I continued to fight to find a way to access services, but without a referral from a PCP I was getting nowhere. I finally took the time to bus out to one of the few clinics taking patients. They contacted a local imaging center attached to a public hospital to get me in. This started in June, I was finally in for imaging in October. In November I would get a biopsy and find out it was benign. It took me six months from start to finish to find out what was there.
It would be another year before I would get insurance again. In that time I ended up in the ER enough times the doctors started to recognize me. There really wasn't anything either of us could do. I couldn't manage my health without being able to afford regular doctor's visits and medication and they couldn't make a solution appear out of thin air. My wisdom teeth got infected and had to be removed but had to wait two months for a dentist who would help. I was on antibiotics so long I ended up with a GI infection. Bronchitis, allergic reaction, a set of second degree burns from how bad at cooking I can be. They got to deal with it all, despite the fact that most of these things were preventable.
All if this changed in January of last year. I live in one of the states that approved the Medicaid expansion and set up their own healthcare exchange. I was there on day one to shake hands with the Governor, tell him my story, and sign up. I stood up with him to others to encourage them to use the exchange as well. It is the only day of class I've missed since I started back.
Because of the Affordable Care Act I was able to get needed blood work that I had not been able to afford. Reliable access to medication. The first thing my PCP did, remembering how just a few months earlier I had ended up in the ER because I didn't have an inhaler was make sure to get me a prescription for one so I had a backup. One thing I know is I appreciate the opportunity more than I could ever express.
I know there are naysayers out there who will tell me that those things are not really free and that someone has to pay for them. One day I'll graduate and that person will be me. I seriously hope that I am paying to make sure someone gets the care they need with the money I pay into the system. It's saner than paying for what happens when they can't. The system we have isn't perfect, but it can only get better if we put effort into it.
You're a 34 year old nurse who works in a call center as a customer service rep? Laid off 4 times in 6 years? I think I'm missing some part of this story. Why are you so unemployable?
I'm a nursing student, note that there are no letters after my user name.
I'm sorry it's been that bad for you resqbug. I find your story is an exception to the rule, at least where I live. May I ask if your state set up an exchange or not?
I agree we have a long way to go shan409, and that for some it has caused hardship. Especially in states that refused to implement. For me, seeing those people in other states in similar positions to mine being unable to get medicaid as well as making to little to get a the subsidies and falling through the cracks is especially hard.
The ACA is far from perfect, but is sure beats what millions had before... NOTHING. Sure I pay more and have a higher deductable, but the cost is worth it to me. My employer raised my cost every year anyway, at least now millions of others can seek healthcare when before they could not. I know what it is like to have health issues and no insurance to cover the costs. To me it is not just all out Me, Me, Me, but Us, Us, Us.
I completely agree, it is far from perfect, but it does help out the most vulnerable portion of our society as well as provide some relief to a number of the general population as well. The first step is often the hardest when it comes to our government, but now that it's in place it can be built upon to make it more useful. Will it be awesome for everyone eventually, no, but we're talking medicine, not miracles.
Qualifying for Medicaid under the ACA is a completely different world than being in the working class and trying to afford the doubled premiums and insanely high deductibles the ACA brought to most working adults.
My deductible is so high that I end up paying cash for all of our prescriptions and in most years will never satisfy a $12,600 deductible that I pay over $500 a month for. That was the cheapest policy I would find, even through the glorious "exchanges". That's over $18,000 a year I would be responsible for before my insurance kicks in!
Prior to the ACA, I had a perfectly good policy that cost $223 a month with a 10K deductible that worked well for my needs. I saved enough money each month that spending 200-300 on medications or doctor's visits was no big deal. Funny how Obama touted if you like your policy, you can keep it! Thanks to the ACA, health insurance companies were required to add-on additional coverage to their policies, passing on the higher deductibles to the policy holders.
I wouldn't get all warm and fuzzy about the ACA until you are out of school and working and see exactly how expensive your healthcare will be due to the ACA.
I looked into coverage under the ACA. It would have cost me $400. a month, with a $1,200. deductible, and I'm 50 years old.
I just dropped my private, individual BCBS insurance. No deductible, but premium was $650. per month, for just me.
You have a $12,600. deductible and pay over $500. per month?
It is not without faults, definitely. But the ACA is a step in the right direction. The part I like the most about it? In order to change it now, the replacement will have to be better. As long as we can keep that trend, we can continue to move forward with healthcare. But you are absolutely right, we need to realize that health is a right, not a privilege, and that it is not all about us individually, but rather as a whole.
Qualifying for Medicaid under the ACA is a completely different world than being in the working class and trying to afford the doubled premiums and insanely high deductibles the ACA brought to most working adults.
My deductible is so high that I end up paying cash for all of our prescriptions and in most years will never satisfy a $12,600 deductible that I pay over $500 a month for. That was the cheapest policy I would find, even through the glorious "exchanges". That's over $18,000 a year I would be responsible for before my insurance kicks in!
Prior to the ACA, I had a perfectly good policy that cost $223 a month with a 10K deductible that worked well for my needs. I saved enough money each month that spending 200-300 on medications or doctor's visits was no big deal. Funny how Obama touted if you like your policy, you can keep it! Thanks to the ACA, health insurance companies were required to add-on additional coverage to their policies, passing on the higher deductibles to the policy holders.
I wouldn't get all warm and fuzzy about the ACA until you are out of school and working and see exactly how expensive your healthcare will be due to the ACA.
Big YES! to this. I am lucky in that my employer still offers decent insurance at an affordable rate. My daughter and son in law both work jobs without insurance coverage [they are in college] and the best/most affordable policy they could get is the same as the one you have. Adding insult to this injury my daughters only prescribed med, her birth control pills, have more than trippled in price with this so called insurance. Since neither one of them have any chronic health conditions [thank God] the odds of them ever actually going beyond their deductible and receiving any kind of benefit from this ridiculously expensive plan is pretty slim.
I looked into coverage under the ACA. It would have cost me $400. a month, with a $1,200. deductible, and I'm 50 years old.
I just dropped my private, individual BCBS insurance. No deductible, but premium was $650. per month, for just me.
You have a $12,600. deductible and pay over $500. per month?
Sorry, but I am skeptical.
If that poster is in WI, yep..that is sadly correct. The best policy my daughter and son in law could find is $580.00/month premium with a $12,600.00 deductible. That is coverage for both of them.
jaycam, RN
1 Article; 459 Posts
I'm a nursing student, note that there are no letters after my user name.