I have just renewed my insurance through healthcare.gov, and it was a miserable experience. I would like to share with you some untrue statements.
Q: Will my premiums / costs go up because of health reform?
A: No.
According to the independent and non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, people who get coverage through their employer today will likely see lower premiums.
Reform will lower premiums by reducing administrative costs, increasing competition between insurance companies and creating a larger pool of insured Americans.
I very much liked the plan I signed up for last year: a Blue Cross Keystone Silver Pro-active plan. $27/month after my subsidy, no deductible, same doctor I’ve gone to for years (even when i had no insurance, she filled my asthma prescription), and no deductible on prescriptions.
But my premium DID go up. By $106.00. After my subsidy, which is smaller than last year even though I make less money, my new bill would be $133/month. Maybe for some people that’s not a lot of money. For me, it is. That is a 396% increase.
This led to another untrue statement: If you like your plan you can keep it. Under ObamaCare you can keep your health insurance until 2015, even if it doesn’t comply with the ACA. When a premium increase coupled with a reduced subsidy put your plan out of reach, you can’t keep your plan. So I had to switch plans. The only silver I could afford was, after subsidies, $96/month. That is a 255% increase in my premium.
This led to another untrue statement: “No matter how we reform health care,” Obama said in 2009, “we will keep this promise: if you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.”
Not true. I was unable to afford a decent Blue Cross Silver plan similar to what I had before (I’m not purchasing a Bronze, that’s a waste of money). My doctor isn’t in my new insurer’s network, which means I have to get my hands on a supply of asthma meds ASAP because I have no idea how long it will, take to get an appointment with whoever my new doctor is (and of course, I’ll have to FIND a new doctor as well).
Now, I know someone in comments is going to say “It’s not all about you”, which I guess is true. But my $26,000/year salary boils down to $1600/month after taxes, which needs to cover a mortgage, child support, student loan, two years of back taxes I couldn’t afford to pay the IRS when I was freelancing, credit card, electric, gas heat during winter (upwards of $300/month or more), water, and of course food.
I should also add that it looks like, under my new plan, my asthma meds go from $5.00/month to $50.00/month (I will update if I’m wrong). So there’s that too. but as you can imagine, I’m not happy about this at all.