Where Is the Affordable Part of the Affordable Care Act?

I’m sure nearly everyone in the United States of America is sick of hearing about this fiasco called the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), aka Obamacare.

I’m sick of it too! I’m incensed to the point I can hardly form a rational train of thought. Not for myself. My husband’s employer pays the bulk of our premiums so the ACA effect on us was mild; gripe worthy but not life changing. I’m more disturbed by the sentiments and the frustration of the people that I have spoken to. The commoners I come across at the clinic, the supermarket or local pharmacy.

It’s a terrible thing to feel so angry and helpless at the same time. Many of the people I spoke to have written protests to their state representatives; complained and pleaded to every individual that might be able to make a difference yet it has fallen on deaf ears. Many others say no amount of writing or complaining will make any difference and that’s why they haven’t. The machine moves forward. The beast is immune to logic.

The opinions expressed in red marker do not reflect the views of CVS pharmacy.

My mind swims with the idiocy of it all. Who are these government officials deciding our future and what do they really hope to accomplish? I want to lash out at the buffoons that are responsible for it. I want to cuss someone, grab them by their non-blue collar and shake them until they see the big picture but then I realize they can’t. The bubble they reside in creates rainbow reflections and there is no reward for seeing past arm’s length.

I want to be active in turning this around but other than continuing to write my elected bureaucrats I’m at a loss.  The most I can do at the moment is give vent and share a handful of remarks from average citizens. And this pamphlet supplied by CVS littered with agitated quotes.

“I’m a twenty-one year old student and married. As far as insurance right now I’m on Medicaid because I’m pregnant. My husband doesn’t have insurance. He brings home about $400 a week.  Medicaid pays 100% of everything for me. They paid for my first baby and still cover all of his doctor visits. They even paid for my dental work while I was pregnant the first time. After this baby comes and my Medicaid runs out I’ll probably sign all four of us up for CHIP but when I finish school and go to work I’m afraid  we won’t be any better off because of the cost of insurance. I feel like they want to keep us poor.” Carmon

“I am forty-nine years old and married. Our household income is about eighty thousand dollars a year.  My husband works for a fairly small company that dropped employee coverage as of January 1^st because they could no longer afford to offer it. We knew the change was coming along with Obamacare so I started shopping months ago for a plan. We both have health issues requiring prescription medications that total over $300 dollars a month. We’re both on a thyroid replacement which means routine lab tests and they’re not cheap. Forget the marketplace and healthcare dot gov – that’s nothing but a stupid joke. I finally found a plan (IF they accept us. The fine print say’s they do NOT have to) that lets us keep our doctor for just under $1000 dollars a month. Many other plans were three times that. The deductible is pretty steep but what choice do we have? We have to have insurance. They are pushing dental insurance on you too. A mandatory dental plan for someone with dentures and here’s the real kicker they don’t cover dentures. Go figure.” Kaye

“I’m sixty years old, disabled and divorced. I get a little over nine hundred dollars a month. I get help with my rent and a free phone. The VA takes care of all of my health care needs and I don’t get charged. Well I didn’t until last year. It’s still not a lot, a few dollars for my drugs. It’s nothing like what I hear other guys complaining about. Heck VA pays me to go to the doctor. I get a check for the cost of travel every time I go. I don’t worry about all that Obamacare crap. We’re slaves. They spy on us and keep us under thumb. America went to hell a long time ago. People are just now feeling the flames but they’re like a cold toad frog – they’ll just set and take it. I guess I’ll do the same because I’m so beat down I don’t give a damn anymore.” Dan

“I am thirty-two years old and engaged. I am self-employed and my annual income is sixty thousand dollars. I have kept an individual health plan since I was twenty-nine but I’ve only gone to the doctor a few times for annual exams. I’m healthy and just really wanted the policy in place because I am hoping to be pregnant before I turn thirty-three. I don’t have a clue about the prescription benefit because I haven’t used it. The premiums totaled $4800 last year with $25 copay and a $3000 deductible. This year the same coverage will cost me $7200. My copay went up to $35 and the deductible is $5000.  I thought the act was supposed to make insurance more affordable? It’s going to be a lot more expensive to have a baby now and provide for him/her the way I had hoped. I can’t dwell on that- it’s too depressing. I’ll just keep treating it like money I never had.” Tessala

“I’m seventy-eight years young, widowed and I draw a social security check. I’ll just tell you it’s less than two grand a month. I’m doing fine because everything I have is paid for. I don’t have any money left over at the end of the month but that’s fine. I don’t need much and I’m in pretty good health for a man my age.  They take $105 out of my check every month to pay for Medicare but the only complaint I have is a couple of my prescriptions doubled or tripled in cost. I just quit taking them. We all have to die from something, right? I’ll tell you who I feel sorry for; I pity the working folks – the middle-class families trying to get ahead in today’s economy. I really thought this Affordable Care Act would be a good thing. I feel like they outright lied about it and it makes me ashamed. It makes me grieve for hard working Americans. Poor people have CHIPS and Medicaid, you know and us old fogies have Medicare but the weight of the world always falls on the back of the working man.” Billy

“I’m twenty-five years old and single. I bring home around 28 to 30k a year (depending on over-time) and that’s not enough to make repairs on the house I’m buying and keep my truck running so I can get my ass to work every day but it’s too much to be eligible for any kind of assistance. I don’t have health insurance because I rarely go to the doctor and when I do I pay cash. The cheapest plan I’ve seen is $128 a month with an annual deductible of $6000. That means I would have to spend six thousand dollars out of pocket before the insurance would pay a dime. Why the hell would I want that? That’s the problem – I don’t want it! I can’t afford it! I pay my utility bills and I’ve got a cell phone – those are my luxuries. And I like to eat at least once a day. I guess I could give up one of the latter and sell aluminum cans so I can afford this goddamn compulsory insurance. That or I’ll end up in federal prison because at some point I will stop filing an income tax return to avoid the fine. I’m a young man and already I have so much contempt and animosity toward our governing establishment. It’s a blighted crop – I say plow it under and let’s start over.” James