This Could Happen To You

Please take a few minutes of your time to watch the following news clip about someone who got caught up in the Obamacare horror story media frenzy.

Click Here & Watch.

I’ll wait.

This could happen to you. Don’t let it.

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There is a lot to unpack here, but most of it is very simple. The type of reporting that was being discussed has for some time now become the norm. I do more research for my blog posts than some of these reporters do for their television segments.

Obamacare is just the latest thing to fall into the hands of these so-called professional journalists, and news outlets. And who ends up losing when things like this happen? The everyday American people, that’s who. People like you and me and people like the woman in the news clip.

Although everything turned out alright for this person in the end, it was sad to see how she had been misled. And not only that, the ignorance she had about the ACA could so easily had been relieved if television news, reporting and journalists had actually been doing their jobs.

Don’t let that happen to you.

One reporter made one phone call and asked the right questions, and took the time to find out what was really happening. Doing his job the way you are supposed to do it – investigating journalist.

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The rest of us are going to be so fortunate as to have someone make that call for us. We have to self advocate and do these things for ourselves. My Obamacare posts have been put out there to help you with that.

The only quibble I had with that clip, was the guy who said how hard it was to do comparisons between health insurance plans. And he is right. Because in the past, it was indeed awful. I know about it first hand.

However, now we have the exchange system set up, with easy to follow directions and you can compare all kinds of plans with the one you have now, compare them with each other if you are trying to find that magical fit between what you can afford vs. what you need.

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That is the one single thing I urge everyone to do. If you are being told by anyone – including your current health insurance provider – that you have to pay more, or they have to drop you or whatever:

Find out for yourself what the truth is for you and your family.

I also learned the term “Junk Insurance” from that news clip. And I absolutely love it! It is the perfect description for all those godawful plans that I kept getting in those rare moments when I was able to afford coverage.

Like that woman found out, you will also find out when you start to compare what you had with how insurance is now under the ACA, that you are going to get more bang for your buck.

What I also have learned on my journey into understanding the ACA and the exchanges, and what was touched upon briefly in that clip, is that what you get for your premiums is vastly different from before.

I’ve listed what many of those benefits, rights and protections are under the ACA, and provided links to even more detailed information in my Previous Obamacare Post if you want to check that info out for yourself.

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There are other costs to consider besides the premiums. What is the cost going to be should you get sick, injured or contract a debilitating illness? Those are the things to compare and contrast when you get on those websites or talk in person with people when you go to shop for coverage.

And the funny thing is, we Americans already know how to shop like this. We do it all the time. We compare items of similar price and see what each has to offer. That DVD player, that computer, that phone.

Or maybe it’s just me. But I don’t think it is, when you have sites like Best Buy and Amazon that have the compare feature right there at your fingertips. Because that’s what consumers do. How many test drives did you go on before you decided which car was the one?

Some of you have shopped around for the best deal on auto insurance, home owner’s insurance, life insurance, renter’s insurance – you name it. There’s even a huge industry for life insurance for your pets.

So you can fall victim to the hype, drama and fake stories of horror about doing something you do every day: comparison shopping for the best deal – or you can ignore it and get you and your loved ones covered.

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Lastly, I’d like to talk about this vested interest that some of my fellow Americans have in making sure that you don’t get covered. And by fellow Americans I don’t mean politicians, I mean everyday people like you and me. I already know why certain politicians and public office holders don’t want the rest of us to get covered. It is the everyday people working so hard against the ACA that have me flummoxed.

I’m not seeing what the advantage is to their lives if they prevent you from getting affordable healthcare coverage. I can see the disadvantages to you, if you don’t self advocate and get what you need to make an informed decision.

Those are the key words: Informed Decision.

Watching a news program by “uninformed and incurious news reporters” is not being informed. You are watching what someone has chosen for you to see.

Not to mention each individual, each family has it’s own unique healthcare needs. Find out if the needs of your family can be met with coverage under the ACA.

Go find out what you will get for what you can pay. Go find out if you, like that woman in the clip are eligible for subsidies.

She was eligible for a $200 subsidy which put her paying only $40 more for the plan closest to what she was paying before. That is: Only paying $333 for a $533 plan, when she was paying $293 for a junk plan with none of the ACA benefits.

Or she could go down to the next tier and pay around $190. Still with more benefits than the plan she has now. She can stay with her plan, or go with any of the other ACA options. It will be up to her to decide. But at least she now has the information she needed in order to make that decision. You should get it too.

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I’ve lived most of my life without health insurance. I’ve used emergency rooms as my primary care. I’ve gone to free or low cost clinics. I’ve paid out of pocket – cash – for care. I’ve gone without because I didn’t have the money. I’ve had junk insurance plans, that I always ended up not being able to afford, because the out of pocket expenses were too high – so much wasn’t even covered.

Right now, I have three back molars missing from my head. Yeah, they cracked off and fell out. I have one that is on its last legs because while I was able to at that time have my parents cover part of the root canal I needed, I wasn’t able to afford the final procedure to get the enamel covering.

Goodness knows what’s going on with my ladyparts and my other plumbing, because I haven’t been able to get my yearly pelvic exams, or see a GP on the regular at all. Now that I have insurance, I’m going to go get my stuff attended to.

But I know there are somethings that have been permanently damaged, or will take years of rehabilitating and fixing, due to the decades I was only saw a doctor when it was an emergency. When I had to pay for preventative care – like dental upkeep visits, pap smears, breast exams, yearly physicals etc – I couldn’t afford it, so I went without.

Now preventative care is free under the ACA. That alone is worth the price of the ticket for me.

I think Obamacare is fine and dandy. Others think it isn’t. You don’t have to listen to me or them. Go find out for yourself.

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You don’t let your fellow Americans deter you from buying that new laptop. I certainly didn’t let them deter me from saving $20/month on my auto insurance when I went comparison shopping last month. I suggest not letting them deter you from getting affordable healthcare coverage either.

They won’t be around when your child gets sick. They won’t be there when you get ill or injured. They won’t be there when you have to deal with a mental illness. They won’t be there.

And ask yourself why they are here now attempting to block you from even checking things out? What is in it for them? I certainly have no idea.

It costs you nothing but a little bit of your time to check out the exchanges and find things out for yourself. Then you can decide – for yourself – what you are going to do.

Don’t know where to start? CLICK HERE.

Good health to you and yours. Live long, and prosper.

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