Civitas's: Your Obamacare Stories - Part I | Eastern North Carolina Now
Below are responses from real people across North Carolina describing how the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is making health insurance far less affordable while often forcing them off their current plans.
Now that President Trump is picking his cabinet and immediate staff to insulate him from the poor judgement of the Bureaucratic Class, while moving quickly to transition this Constitutional Republic unto a wise and sustainable direction: What is your immediate impression as to how our nation will prosper?
50% We are headed toward a Golden Age in America's self-governed society.
0% This will all wind up in a clustered mess since Trump is a Fascist, and thought to be the second coming of Adolf Hitler by our best journalists.
50% This is a time where critical days lay ahead, where only wise and responsible decisions must be made to sustain US.
0% I generally do not pay attention, but expect only the best to occur ... and that is what I always expect.
Below are responses from real people across North Carolina describing how the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is making health insurance far less affordable while often forcing them off their current plans.
Mother Of Two Chronically Ill Children "Being Destroyed By Obamacare" ... Medical Copay for Vital Medicine Skyrockets by 306 Percent ... Deductibles and Copays Soar
"I have two kids with chronic, life-threatening illnesses. We are being destroyed by Obamacare. I made a video that explains it all:
We are currently at $22,700.21 in OOP Medical this year thanks to the increases in copays, deductibles, and OOP Maxes. Our worst year financially in 17 years and not even our worst year medically speaking, either! The number has increased from August when I made the video explaining it all. We also found out yesterday that the total increase of our premiums for 2014 is $1,537.64 increase from this year. That's a $3,066 increase since the law passed. I have pictures of the letter my husband's employer sent out in August explaining that their health care plan costs are going to increase $7.4 million in 2014..... so we knew there would be increases. I also have pictures of invoices on my blog:
www.catholicteapartyhippie.blogspot.com A medication that protects my youngest son's kidneys from damage had a copay of $131 from 2005-2010... After Obamacare passed, the copay skyrocketed to $532
I have a public photo album of a few of our bills on FB... not sure if this link works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbHd5qTHktA&feature=share&list=UUrwbRsmGvKdtFJP8TOGkYSg
Where we used to pay 4-5K per year in medication copays, we are now on track to pay 10K this year. We have currently paid with flex, cash and credit $7,143.93 for those same medications and have a few more months left in the year. From 2005-2010, our deductible increased $50 ($10/year). Since Obamacare passed, our deductible has increased $1,200 ($400/year). From 2005-2010, our OOP max increased $500 ($100/yr) Since Obamacare passed, it increased $3,000 ($1,000/year).
A copay for a blood product my son infuses weekly stayed the same from 2005-2010. Since the law passed, it has increased 100%. Still one of our more affordable copays, but a 100% increase is crazy. Before Obamacare, our plan was an 85/15. The company dropped it to a 80/20 because of Obamacare.
If you can't open the FB picture album, let me know, I can email you pictures. I have one envelop (small) with the first $2,500 we paid with flex and then a huge one with most of the other bills.The decreased ability to itemize deductions will hurt us when we file taxes! The drop in flex harmed us greatly- we used the $2,500 by Jan 19th of this year.
Anyway, sorry for such a disjointed letter. If you watch my video, it is pretty clear. The medical device tax affects us because our insurance company pays more for the medical supplies and catheters we use. Then passes the cost on to us via higher deductibles, premiums, OOP Maxes and copays."
Click here to see the insurance report Obamacare Rate Increase Letter
Young, Healthy Female to See Premiums Triple...
"My daughter who is 25yo and healthy has a policy with Blue Cross & Blue Shield. She is currently paying $70.00 monthly for health insurance.
Effective January 1st, her monthly premium will increase to $210.00 per month. She recently graduated from college, has a good job, but this cost is making it impossible for her to get established in life."
Current Insurance Dropped "Due to ACA Regulations"... Premium Would Increase 81 Percent...a Rise of More Than $450/mo ... Forced to Drop Coverage Because it Will be Unaffordable
"I received a letter from BC/BS this week letting me know that my current plan will no longer available in 2014 because of the ACA (Obamacare), and the closest plan will now be $1,019.49 per month instead of the $562.21 I'm now paying (out of pocket because I don't get benefits being self-employed). That is an increase of $457.28 a month ($5,487.36 a year) which I can't afford and will have to drop. Didn't Mr. Obama say that if we liked our plan we can keep it? Just another lie and another reason congress should have found out what is in it before passing it (Ms. Pelosi)."
Click here to see the insurance report Obamacare Rate Increase Letter
Current Insurance Dropped "Due to ACA Regulations"... Premium to Triple
"My wife Barbara was laid off from her job in April,2012 where she had health benefits. Since she is not yet eligible for Medicare, we had to find coverage. Farm Bureau of NC/NC BlueCross had a $5000 deductible plan that cost $216.16 per month. On September 27, we received a letter from BlueCross informing her that the existing policy would expire at end of December,2013. A new "Bronze" policy would replace it in 2014 that complies with the new law in force for 2014. This new policy would "match" the old policy but the cost per month would be $657.45 per month. This increase is over 200% and represents an annual cost increase over $5200. Since our social security income and IRA income puts us over the $46,000 level, we are not eligible for any subsidy.
We have asked Farm Bureau to come up with a plan to reduce but have not heard back from them yet.We are in contact with CoventryOne and their $5000 deductible is in the $350/month range. We assume that the extra $5200 cost per year from BlueCross is the tax that John Roberts was referring to when he voted in June,2012 to allow the ACA to go forward in a 5-4 decision in the Supreme Court. Don't know if John Roberts and his family have faced a 200% rise in their monthly health care premium costs for 2014."
Premium Increase of 52 Percent...
"Mr. "No one making less than $250,000 will see any tax increases" has increased my BCBSNC premiums 52.5%, from $576.87 per month to $879.93 per month with no limit on out of pocket expenses. This is another 5% of my income gone to the government and Democrat policies. And as we know from experience, it only gets worse, never better under any political party's watch."
Click here to see the insurance report Obamacare Rate Increase Letter
Full-time Worker Having Hours Cut to 25/wk...
"My husband has been with the company he works for since its beginning (around 22years). He is the oldest and longest employed person in the business. This year the owner of the company told him he was "going to do him a favor" and cut his hours from 40 hours per week to 25 hours per week. The sad thing is, he is required to work five days a week for five hours. He still has to spend the same amount of money for travel. The owner did give him an increase in pay, but it does not compensate for the loss in revenue from the reduction in hours. He receives no benefits or insurance. Thank you "OBAMACARE"
Losing Current Plan ... New Plan Has Higher Premiums, Deductibles and Copay
"My wife and I have had continuous coverage with NC BC/BS since 1-1-2004 and believed that we would be able to continue our coverage based on Obama's 3-2010 statements that anyone who was already covered would not lose their coverage or doctors. It was a lie. We have been "mapped" from the B tier of Blue Advantage to the Silver 2800 plan. Our deductibles have increased as well as our copays for both doctors and prescriptions. We do not know at this time the extent of the doctor network. For this we will now be paying $1,376.24 per month. So much for the "Affordable Care Act". I always thought the liberal left was concerned about the equal application of the law. Over 1100 exemptions have been granted to corporate America and the unions, what about individual middle class Americans. Once again Obama's rhetoric falls far short of his actions."
Current Insurance Dropped "Due to ACA Regulations" ... Premium Increases 150 Percent
"We just got a letter from Blue Cross Blue Shield explaining that my husband's current insurance plan was not ACA-compliant, and therefore he'd be transferred to a new plan that would entail a 150% increase in his premium. Lucky for him, the new plan includes ACA-required benefits like newborn and maternity care. Really?!?! In the year we've had his current plan, he has never had a claim against it and he'll be paying an extra $1,800 per year going forward for insurance services he doesn't need. "
Losing Current Coverage ... New Premiums Would be 50 Percent Higher... Cost $4,200 More Per Year ... with Higher Out of Pocket Expenses
"We have responsibly purchased health insurance for the last 9 years, spending over 75K on premiums for family coverage, and only one time receiving any benefit from an outpatient procedure. We have averaged roughly $1200/year on out of pocket doctor visits and prescriptions. We have switched carriers a few times and chosen policies with higher deductibles to bring our premium down to where we can swing it. We currently have BCBS - they renew all of their individual policies on January 1 of each year not on the date of purchase as other carriers do. We received a notice that our policy was not grandfathered and that they would "map" us into a like policy. The next letter informed us that the monthly premium was increasing $351/mo. We currently have a policy with a deductible of $5450 w/100% coverage after deductible. With the new policy our family deductible would be the same however with a 50% co-insurance up to $12,700 - essentially a 100% increase in out of pocket expenses and a 50% increase in premiums. We do not qualify for subsidies.
Current Insurance Dropped "Due to ACA Regulations" ... Premium Increase Of 63 Percent ... Less Prescription Drug Coverage
"We have been self employed for over 30 years, and consequently purchased our own health insurance. We are 56 years of age and healthy.
We first received a booklet from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, that said "You cannot stay with your current plan, so you have to be switched to a new 2014 plan. You may see a substantial impact on your rate."
Then the next week re received our renewal letter. It said "Due to ACA regulations, you current BCBSNC medical plan will no longer be offered for 2014.......we will transition you to the Blue Advantage Silver 3500 plan. Our rate went from $684.00 to $l,ll7.42. This is for a 70/30, $7000 deductible plan.
The next week we received a copy of what the plan covers. Under the prescription drug coverage, After a $200.00 deductible, Preferred brand drugs are $50 per prescription, Non-Preferred brand drugs are $70 per prescription, Generic drugs NOT COVERED. How does this save anybody any money. Who was protected with Obama Care? No wonder the drug companies back it.