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.
The recent posts are starting to sound a bit repetitive ... I could swear I read pmabraham's comment somewhere up-thread under a different username. (It's cumbersome to search and quote on my phone but will be happy to do that when I get around to firing up the desktop.)
My point in mentioning it is this: the neocon noise machine on display here was not designed to solve problems or uncover the truth. All that impeccable duckspeak is a script intended to drown out anyone who might actually have two thoughts to rub together.
Although it's aimed at progressives, the sad fact is that conservatives are also drowned out. This effectively eliminates any chance of finding a solution that addresses the concerns of those on all sides of the issue.
The name-calling, the scapegoating, the illogical made-up pseudofacts, the social Darwinist stereotypes and the chest-thumping xenophobia have been essentially unchanged since the days of Tricky Dick Nixon and his corrupt sidekick Spiro. It's all ritual - a set-piece designed to go .
Once it becomes clear that the discussion is going in circles, as it has in this thread, it's time to stop wasting energy on it. If we stop cooperating with it, then maybe we can actually find ways to address the problems brought up by users who are paying way too much for way too little benefit, without turning the disabled and disadvantaged back out into the cold.
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.
My friend purchased health insurance through the marketplace and pays less than $90 monthly. I have health insurance through my employer and it costs me less than $40 monthly and my deductible isn't high at all.
The recent posts are starting to sound a bit repetitive ... I could swear I read pmabraham's comment somewhere up-thread under a different username.
No, pmabraham posted the same info earlier in the thread under her/his own name. Pmabraham repeats the same talking points criticizing the ACA, pretty much verbatim, every time the ACA comes up as topic here.
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
Also, insisting that we should get rid of something because "politicians lied about it" strikes me as a bit like throwing the baby out with the bath water....
My SO was able to buy a low deductible/low copay Kaiser policy for ~$600/month. 53 yo. He doesn't have to meet the deductible for most services and only has to pay affordable copay OOP. He doesn't qualify for subsidies at this time but would have if it was available during the beginning of the recession/pre ACA when he had to go without insurance for a few years.
Reading this thread got me thinking man I really need to get health insurance... I had a period of unemployment and lost my employer coverage due to health problems and for a while was covered under medicaid because i had no income. I've recently returned to work in a limited capacity, making approximately $15,000 a year with 2 dependents and will now be dropped from medicaid although thankfully my children are still covered. I just checked my state's, Virginia, marketplace and have found out that if I make less than $19,000 a year and live in a state that hasn't expanded medicaid, I am ineligible for any subsidies offered on the marketplace as well as Medicaid since my state did not expand. The cheapest insurance offered to me is $182/mth for a catastrophic plan. The site suggested I look into free community clinics for my healthcare. So apparently a large gap exists for the working poor in Virginia where you are ineligible for both Medicaid and subsidies to purchase your own insurance. So I guess next year I'll owe a tax penalty because i had the bad luck to fall into this gap. Thanks ACA, thanks a lot
Very true...but I'll also be reserving some blame for the ACA when I have a tax penalty because of my states actions, not my own. I fail to see how that is ok. I'll be uninsured next month not because I choose to be but because I cannot afford not to be. A tax penalty sure will show me though!
Very true...but I'll also be reserving some blame for the ACA when I have a tax penalty because of my states actions, not my own. I fail to see how that is ok. I'll be uninsured next month not because I choose to be but because I cannot afford not to be. A tax penalty sure will show me though!
Why is it the fault or responsibility of the ACA that your state government chose to screw you over?
Why will I have to pay a tax penalty because my state "screwed me over"? Because the ACA says I will. I've been uninsured most of my adult life and while I'm certainly not happy about that theres not much I can do about it at the moment. Being penalized for that? Not cool. Its all i can do to keep a roof over our head right now, why kick people when they're down for something beyond their control?
And why is it okay that there are probably millions of working poor in the same boat I'm in because of the state they live in? Doesn't seem to me like the ACA has been much of a solution at all
heron, ASN, RN
4,661 Posts
The recent posts are starting to sound a bit repetitive ... I could swear I read pmabraham's comment somewhere up-thread under a different username. (It's cumbersome to search and quote on my phone but will be happy to do that when I get around to firing up the desktop.)
My point in mentioning it is this: the neocon noise machine on display here was not designed to solve problems or uncover the truth. All that impeccable duckspeak is a script intended to drown out anyone who might actually have two thoughts to rub together.
Although it's aimed at progressives, the sad fact is that conservatives are also drowned out. This effectively eliminates any chance of finding a solution that addresses the concerns of those on all sides of the issue.
The name-calling, the scapegoating, the illogical made-up pseudofacts, the social Darwinist stereotypes and the chest-thumping xenophobia have been essentially unchanged since the days of Tricky Dick Nixon and his corrupt sidekick Spiro. It's all ritual - a set-piece designed to go .
Once it becomes clear that the discussion is going in circles, as it has in this thread, it's time to stop wasting energy on it. If we stop cooperating with it, then maybe we can actually find ways to address the problems brought up by users who are paying way too much for way too little benefit, without turning the disabled and disadvantaged back out into the cold.