Without Obamacare, I would have died.

[her209]

Without Obamacare, I would have died. I’m scared the Supreme Court is going to gut the part that saved me.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/poste...court-is-going-to-gut-the-part-that-saved-me/

In 2010, at 54, I was diagnosed with non-alcoholic cirrhosis (end-stage liver disease). It’s debilitating, and a transplant is the only cure.

As the disease worsened, I tried to make the best of it. My wife and I were lucky to have private insurance for high-risk patients. It cost $2,000 a month with a $5,500 deductible. That cost was high, but we didn’t have any other choice. My liver ailment and diabetes were pre-existing conditions that would have made it impossible to find a new plan.

Treating my condition eventually took up so much time that we closed our store. In June 2013, we sold our home in Pawleys Island and moved to Durham, N.C.

In October 2013, I got a letter from my insurance company telling me that my existing high-risk insurance would be ending effective Dec. 31, 2013. I was told that if I wanted continued medical insurance, I would have to find another provider.

I was terrified. At this point, I was so ill that my wife had to be a full-time caregiver for me. We were living on my Social Security Disability check, a drastic change in income for both of us. We could not afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars a liver transplant would have cost. And without insurance, I would have been dropped from the transplant list. I would have died.

My old insurer suggested we sign up for the Affordable Care Act exchange. So I called. The process was messy and frustrating. The Web site crashed; it took days to sign up, and countless phone calls. But eventually, I managed to enroll.

On Jan. 1 this year, I started on the Obamacare insurance. I now pay just $126 a month for insurance; a federal government subsidy covers the rest. If we had to cover the full cost of our health care, we would have just $574 left each month for all of our other expenses, including food and medicines.

Because of my insurance, I’m able to contemplate my future. And I’m really frightened that the Supreme Court might cut the subsidy for me and so many others. For me, the subsidy is the difference between life and death.

Isn't it a little backwards how private health insurance works? You'll only be covered if you're well enough to work. If you're too sick and can't work, you lose your health insurance coverage because you lost your job who you were getting your coverage through or you don't have the money to afford the monthly premiums when you were earning an income then its pretty much a death sentence. Luckily for the man in the story, he had SSI income plus Obamacare.

 

[ccbadd]

So, why was his old policy being cancelled in October of 2013? Not an Obamacare approved policy?

 

[master_shake_]

So, why was his old policy being cancelled in October of 2013? Not an Obamacare approved policy?

probably because it was costing his insurance company too much money.

best way to fix that is to cut you off and then have you go searching for an insurance company that covers an existing condition which iirc before the ACA there were no who would take you on.

 

[Matt1970]

Without Obamacare, I would have died because I was kicked off my insurance because of Obamacare.

If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance, period

 

[her209]

So, why was his old policy being cancelled in October of 2013? Not an Obamacare approved policy?

Maybe covered by the Federally-run Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) which was also came about from Obamacare.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/health-law-clock-ticking-sickest-patients

The federal pool covers about 100,000 people and was created in 2010 by the Affordable Care Act as a temporary bridge until the law fully kicks in. It will cease to exist at the end of December.

 

[Jhhnn]

Without Obamacare, I would have died because I was kicked off my insurance because of Obamacare.

If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance, period

So dim. They were exhausting their assets to obtain insurance coverage & would have been left high & dry when the money was gone. ACA subsidies allow them to have coverage, hopefully receive a transplant & go on to have productive lives.

How hard is that to understand?

Don't let facts interfere with the formulation of your opinions, ever. It'd be treason to your cause, such as it is, and your whole belief structure would come crashing down around you.

 

[Matt1970]

So dim. They were exhausting their assets to obtain insurance coverage & would have been left high & dry when the money was gone. ACA subsidies allow them to have coverage, hopefully receive a transplant & go on to have productive lives.

How hard is that to understand?

Don't let facts interfere with the formulation of your opinions, ever. It'd be treason to your cause, such as it is, and your whole belief structure would come crashing down around you.

Did I post something that wasn't factual?

 

[Jhhnn]

Did I post something that wasn't factual?

Just your usual derogatory bullshit.

Presented with an example of how the ACA actually helps people, you bad mouth it.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Yes, yes,.. real life actual and real examples of how ACA is working - pish, posh!!

We all know ACA should be revoked, because I have a friend, that knows a guy that once lived across the street from a woman who had a friend that was once on a bus and overheard 2 random strangers say how ACA is bad - I mean, those 2 random strangers didn't give ANY real examples themselves, they just said it's bad,.. so, it clearly IS.

From Death Panels (which have yet to materialize) to random buffoonery of "nu-uhs" and tall tales of businesses being crushed by ACA - the hate will NEVER go away,.. but, the benefits keep coming out and are being made public.

One early example;
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/critic-sees-aca-godsend

Despite these horrific circumstances, Sean’s wife, Stephanie Recchi, told Time’s Steven Brill last fall, “I don’t think Obamacare will help us. I don’t want anything to do with it.” She added, “I hear a lot of bad things about it – that it doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions and it’s too expensive.” Why did she believe this? Recchi said she’d seen “television ads and some politicians talking on the news.”

Here’s a family facing a terrible ordeal, through no fault of their own, and clearly in need a hand. But they’d been misled by charlatans and cranks, feeding on public confusion, and leaving the Recchi family with a mistaken impression of reality.

That was a few months ago. Brill published a follow-up report this week, noting that “what has happened to the Recchis and their health care options more recently might be emblematic of the law’s potential” (via Joan McCarter).

“When they came to my office, Stephanie told me right up front, ‘I don’t want any part of Obamacare,’ ” recalls health-insurance agent Barry Cohen. “These were clearly people who don’t like the President. So I kind of let that slide and just asked them for basic information and told them we would go on the Ohio exchange” – which is actually the Ohio section of the federal Obamacare exchange – “and show them what’s available.”

What Stephanie soon discovered, she told me in mid-November, “was a godsend.” The business that she and her husband had launched … had recently received investor interest after being featured on an episode of the television series CSI. So she estimated to Cohen that their income would be about $90,000 in 2014. But even at that level, her family of four would qualify for a subsidy under Obamacare.

The Recchi family zeroed in on a plan with a $793 monthly premium, which would ultimately cost $566 a month thanks to the ACA subsidy. That was based on $90,000 income – if the family made $40,000, as it had last year, the premium would have cost them $17 a month.

Worst of all - there was no real alternative by the critics. So, it's pretty clear, they aren't really opposed to ACA itself, just that Obama brought it about. And, people like the Recchi family be damned by feeding them lies.

It's a shame.

 

[ccbadd]

probably because it was costing his insurance company too much money.

best way to fix that is to cut you off and then have you go searching for an insurance company that covers an existing condition which iirc before the ACA there were no who would take you on.

I don't know about all states, but here in Texas preexisting conditions were covered after 6 months on a new policy and the state ran, and still does as far as I know, a high risk pool. No federal legislation needed. I have no idea what North Carolina had before the ACA, but I also think it is that state's responsibility to take care of this issue.

Taken this a bit further, do you really think that man's storied is representative of the whole? What percent of people fit that situation? I would bet very little but we mangled an entire industry and that is the justification? Why doesn't he get on Medicaid? I admin I don't know squat about Medicaid, but I have always thought that it was to care for the poor.

 

[theeedude]

I don't know about all states, but here in Texas preexisting conditions were covered after 6 months on a new policy and the state ran, and still does as far as I know, a high risk pool. No federal legislation needed. I have no idea what North Carolina had before the ACA, but I also think it is that state's responsibility to take care of this issue.

Taken this a bit further, do you really think that man's storied is representative of the whole? What percent of people fit that situation? I would bet very little but we mangled an entire industry and that is the justification? Why doesn't he get on Medicaid? I admin I don't know squat about Medicaid, but I have always thought that it was to care for the poor.

http://www.txhealthpool.org/benefits.html
http://www.txhealthpool.org/2014 RateTables_Regular.pdf

For 50 year old $600-$1K /month premium with $1000-$7500 deductible and 20% copay.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Without Obamacare, I would have died because I was kicked off my insurance because of Obamacare.

If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance, period

Without Obamacare, he would have died because he was spending 78% of his income on insurance payments. I understand that math can be tricky, but surely you can see that $126 is a lot smaller than $2,000.

 

[Jhhnn]

http://www.txhealthpool.org/benefits.html
http://www.txhealthpool.org/2014 RateTables_Regular.pdf

For 50 year old $600-$1K /month premium with $1000-$7500 deductible and 20% copay.

Absolutely peachy for anybody unable to work & on disability, right?

Conservative Denial seems to be an all encompassing affliction.

 

[Matt1970]

Without Obamacare, he would have died because he was spending 78% of his income on insurance payments. I understand that math can be tricky, but surely you can see that $126 is a lot smaller than $2,000.

I never knew spending 78% of your income on health insurance causes death.

 

[Jhhnn]

I don't know about all states, but here in Texas preexisting conditions were covered after 6 months on a new policy and the state ran, and still does as far as I know, a high risk pool. No federal legislation needed. I have no idea what North Carolina had before the ACA, but I also think it is that state's responsibility to take care of this issue.

Taken this a bit further, do you really think that man's storied is representative of the whole? What percent of people fit that situation? I would bet very little but we mangled an entire industry and that is the justification? Why doesn't he get on Medicaid? I admin I don't know squat about Medicaid, but I have always thought that it was to care for the poor.

Mangled an entire industry? In what way, exactly?

What percentage of people benefit from the ACA? Hard to say, other than those who've signed up & those who live in states that support the Medicaid extension. Those people obviously benefit. The vast majority are covered under employer sponsored plans, and they're usually the ones whining the loudest about something they know nothing about, like you probably. Well, other than what they get from the so-called "Liberal Media".

The same plans available on the exchange are also available to people who make enough money to not receive subsidies, and they get a break because they're in a group plan.

 

[Jhhnn]

I never knew spending 78% of your income on health insurance causes death.

You don't know your ass from a hole in the ground.

 

[Sunburn74]

I don't know about all states, but here in Texas preexisting conditions were covered after 6 months on a new policy and the state ran, and still does as far as I know, a high risk pool. No federal legislation needed. I have no idea what North Carolina had before the ACA, but I also think it is that state's responsibility to take care of this issue.

Taken this a bit further, do you really think that man's storied is representative of the whole? What percent of people fit that situation? I would bet very little but we mangled an entire industry and that is the justification? Why doesn't he get on Medicaid? I admin I don't know squat about Medicaid, but I have always thought that it was to care for the poor.

Medicaid requires you to meet the federal definition of poverty. For a family of 4, Its just a little less than a total income of $24,000. To be honest, I'm not even sure if in this country a single person can actually live a proper life on an income of $24,000 let alone a family of 4. BTW, obamacare pushed this requirement up to $30,000 for a family of four, and there was a lot of pushback from red states regarding this expansion of medicaid.

That more or less is the issue with healthcare in this country. You have to either wait until 65 (for medicare), or be dirt poor. For pretty much everyone else, private insurance is too affordable and if you get sick you'll lose your job and your current insurance eventually.

 

[glenn1]

Without Obamacare, millions of people wouldn't have been forced to pay for his care and thus could afford to send their kids to college, get a new car for the first time in 16 years, and otherwise spend their own money the way they saw fit. The money didn't come from thin air or volunteer donation personally from progressives' pockets.

 

[alcoholbob]

Isn't it a little backwards how private health insurance works? You'll only be covered if you're well enough to work. If you're too sick and can't work, you lose your health insurance coverage because you lost your job who you were getting your coverage through or you don't have the money to afford the monthly premiums when you were earning an income then its pretty much a death sentence.

So it's backward that a private company doesn't have the monopoly power of the government to redistribute wealth to make sure everyone can afford their services?

 

[SheHateMe]

ObummerCare helped me get my insulin when I did not have insurance for 5 months after moving states following College graduation and was looking around for jobs.

I have a job with great insurance now and I am able to get what I need...those 5 months would have been hell for me because I am insulin dependent.

 

[JEDIYoda]

So, why was his old policy being cancelled in October of 2013? Not an Obamacare approved policy?

nice try.......if you were comprehending correctly nothing was said about his policy being cancelled due to not being Obama care approved...

I see you have no clue, except to bash Obama...

 

[JEDIYoda]

Taken this a bit further, do you really think that man's storied is representative of the whole? What percent of people fit that situation? I would bet very little but we mangled an entire industry and that is the justification? Why doesn't he get on Medicaid? I admin I don't know squat about Medicaid, but I have always thought that it was to care for the poor.

You really know squat about nothing, except to ask questions that show your ignorance of Obama care...

 

[Matt1970]

You don't know your ass from a hole in the ground.

You would think someone who knew their ass from a hole in the ground would be able to spot a joke.

 

[Victorian Gray]

You would think someone who knew their ass from a hole in the ground would be able to spot a joke.

But in order to spot the joke, there actually has to be a joke.

 

[her209]

So it's backward that a private company doesn't have the monopoly power of the government to redistribute wealth to make sure everyone can afford their services?

No, its backwards because the way its setup now, you lose our coverage when you need it the most. In this case, the man lost his health, lost his ability to work, lost his business, lost the income that paid for his health care coverage, and became ineligible for the operation he needed to save his life.