Source: Democratic Underground.com
With the Affordable Healthcare Act, my insurance premium is going up to $176.19 a month. It sucks that I have to pay that much more…
No, wait — it doesn’t.
It doesn’t because it went up from zero dollars a month for NO health insurance. Because I will actually be able to walk into a doctor’s office again. Because I won’t have to scrape the money together to pay for prescription medications from overseas.
I’m on a fixed income, and perhaps I’ll have to cut back on spur-of-the moment purchases. But I am so very grateful for that. My son’s health is more important than a burrito from Bullrito’s, or than picking up the latest version of Grand Theft Auto. I can chuck out that crappy paper card that outlines my son’s temporary catastrophic insurance that would only cover him in the event of a severe football injury, car accident, or other issue that would hit above the ridiculously high deductible.
To those of you who were lucky enough to qualify for insurance before ACA, I am sorry that your premium went up if it went up. I am sorry we don’t have single payer, because that would have been best in my opinion. For a lot of us, this is a life-saving opportunity.
I am not rich. My husband had amazingly good insurance — I didn’t think twice about it. When he died, and the COBRA ran out, it became a nightmare. Partly my fault because I didn’t educate myself. Now my health insurance premium allows me to walk into an ER, make a doctor’s appointment, and look forward to the future.
I admit I was scared when I first logged in — I didn’t want to get my hopes up. The pre-existing thing was huge: I was misinformed at first, thinking there would be no ceiling on what they could charge. The fact that previous health doesn’t figure in at all is amazing. For a patient like me, with RA and a heart condition, knowing that I won’t be charged $190 for the office visit (outside of the costs for the labs/tests that they will force me to have before prescribing or treating) is a savings. Knowing that cholesterol checks, blood pressure checks, cancer screenings, immunizations, and diabetes screenings are not going to cost is a savings.
…Is ACA perfect? No. Is it going to save me money? Yes. Is it going to save my life? Quite possibly.
I am more grateful than you realize. Thank you.