ACA Testamonials

From a post at Democratic Underground:

Right now I pay $650.00 per month for myself and my son (he is 19)

with a $5,000 deductible. The quotes I saw were from $180.00 to
$375.00 per month and in many cases the deductible was from $1,500
to $2,500 ...... I entered my phone # @ the web site and with in 3
minutes a broker who looks @ 62 different insurance companies called me
and said that she could get me a quote w/in 24 hours and it would include
free check ups, and for a little more money it could include vision and
dental too.

**********
No wonder the republicans are so scared of Obamacare.

Some comments from that post:

From DailyKOS:

My sister was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, among other things. By the age of three, she had three open heart surgeries, an ovary removed, her appendix out, and her tonsils removed. The medicines that she will need to take for the rest of her life, in addition to the other heart surgeries that she will eventually need are very, very costly.Our health care providers told my parents that they would be dropping her at age 18, and after some shopping around we learned that no other insurer would pick her up. This meant that there was a high likelihood of death during her early adult years. But, thanks to Obamacare, she can now be covered for life with these preexisting conditions and without any benefit cap.Now age 12, she is a very active young lady. She is involved with many community volunteer activities and is very inspirational to me. I am very thankful that we no longer have those serious worries of constant debt and looming death. I love her so much!I wish that I could get some of my extended family members to recognize the seriousness of this issue.

And a slightly different angle - again from DailyKOS:

I woke up one morning feeling like my testicles were being crushed in a vice. I had been unemployed for a year, and my fiancee of two weeks was making about 19k/yr, so I tried to tough it out for several hours. I tried ibuprofen, soaking in hot water, soaking in cold water, anything I could think of to dull the pain. Eventually I gave up and called my dad and he drove me to the hospital.I spent another six hours in a semi-lucid state getting x-rays and CT scans, and lying on a gurney in the hallway.They came back with the diagnosis of a kidney stone. They determined that the stone was positioned right by the opening of the urethra and was just small enough that it should pass on its own. The doc decided that a natural passing would be less disruptive than a stent, so they put me in a room for the night.I spent the next four days loaded on morphine and some of its sister drugs before the stone finally passed, my fever subsided, and I was cleared to go. Every time the morphine wore off, I would be writhing in agony, counting the minutes until I could get another dose. When I did get another dose, it still hurt like hell, but I didn't care any more.A week later, I decided I had to face facts and deal with the bill. I called the hospital and was told that I owed $400 because the urologist who checked up on me every day was not completely covered by my plan. The remainder of the bill, $26,000, was covered because I was on the Mass Commonwealth Care emergency care plan. If not for that program, both my and my wife's life would be completely fucked over.So former Governor Romney, I would like to thank for making that plan available, but I also want to ask why the fuck you don't think anyone else in the country should have access to it?

There are problems with the thing, and those problems aren't just about the tech glitches.  There're way too many people stuck on one of the several bubbles of the system.  They make a few bucks above whatever threshold, and so they don't get the price break they need, or they don't qualify for the subsidy, or whatever - they just don't get the help they oughta be getting.  All of which can be fixed once the whole thing is up and running.

It's interesting to note that in the states where they've accepted the Fed Bucks for Medicaid expansion and the grants for establishing the exchanges, the thing is working pretty well - plus it seems the insurers are selling a boatload of new policies.  I have to assume somebody's looking hard at the numbers, and here's to hoping the "Risk Mix" is good enough to make it profitable at some sustainable level.

Meanwhile:

They're runnin' scared.  They've made such a big deal over how ACA will kill all the jobs and ruin the economy and make Jesus cry - if it works, they are madly deeply truly fucked.