The ACA saved my life

[Just_Vote_Dem]

Because of preexisting conditions, I couldn't get health insurance. I was working temp jobs that didn't offer insurance. The ACA came along, and helped cover my meds and several life-threatening occurrences.

Many thanks to all the Democrats who fought hard for this, and let's work together to make it even better!

[MaryMagdaline]

1. Salute!

ACA is a blessing to many. My sister retired early (before Medicare age) and has coverage through ACA market. She is dealing with early cancer now which (1) would not have been caught had she had no insurance to see doctors and (2) would not now be treatable without ACA.

For me: I have insurance through work but my mammogram and colonoscopy are both free because of ACA.

YES to expanding and improving!

[Just_Vote_Dem]

2. Sorry about your sis

I hope she feels better.

Glad that the ACA had a positive effect for you!

[MaryMagdaline]

4. And for you as well! Good health to you

[2naSalit]

3. Without the ACA...

And my Dem Gov. (Bullock at that time) two years in, pressed it through over a Rep. legislature, made it possible for me to get the MRIs that proved I needed to go on SSDI. Once the deciders saw them, the called me to tell me it was awarded, no lawyers, no courts... it's that serious.

So yeah, without ACA I would either be in a world of hurt or dead.

[niyad]

5. KNR

[IronLionZion]

6. the ACA has reformed health insurance in the US

encouraging people to get their annual checkups, screenings, vaccines, etc. with no copay makes us collectively healthier as a society. It lowers the risk of conditions worsening to become life threatening and expensive down the road.

[papa3times]

7. Saved my life

and from bankruptcy too because of pre-existing conditions that ACA got rid of.

[Emile]

8. Glad it helped you.

The ACA allowed us to have affordable healthcare and allowed us to retire at age 62. So thankful. .

[stevil]

9. Same here

And in California. Very grateful.

[bmichaelh]

10. Lifetime limits

Also, ACA got rid of lifetime limits on essential health benefits.

It is easy to go over 1M with chemotherapy.

[jaxexpat]

11. The next step, the one that terrifies the 0.001%, is single payer, universal.

Their fear of this single reform has placed them into the pro-authoritarian column even while only a minority of them are actual Nazis.

[Phoenix61]

15. I keep saying the way to do that is to offer a public option for Tri-Care

It has a good reputation with retirees. More providers would join the network if more people had it. This would increase options for current tri-care recipients who tend to vote Republican. Tri-care is already a tiered system, active duty, family members of active duty, and retirees. Adding a 4th option wouldn’t be that difficult. Also, if marketed as something that makes it easier for our AD members and their families to access the medical care they need it keeps out troops health and more able to focus on the important job defending of our country. Yeah, I know..but it would be soooo easy to show a lack of support for it as unamerican and anti-military.

[jaxexpat]

17. Incremental steps are the only way we get ahead, I suppose.

If people understood just how screwed up the healthcare which they depend on actually is, they'd change it.

Patients are pawns in a game of "keep them healthy until terminality is statistically probable", then cut them loose to the "B" team for what becomes "care for the patient until they're too broke to afford anything" which then degenerates into "keep them as comfortable as their relatives or the health department forces you to", then of course the old "carve a profit off the government's payment for indigent end of life care". There is a profit point in every stage of the process. Grifting is a huge part of the negotiation and lying is to be expected at every level. The patient privacy concern (I never understood why that was such a big deal) has degenerated into a system wherein all the players don't communicate in good faith. Every actor speaks in phrases and uses terms that are crafted from briefings by their attorneys. Especially to be protected is the hospital. They're the power players in this multi-trillion-dollar charade. Any information about your status whether it's about invoices or prognosis is subject to change because the information is never authoritative until some negotiation in some dark room in the bowels of the hospital, country club, Tarot reader or yacht dealership is complete.

Government should gut the whole SOB, imprison all the hospital owners/investors, TELL the providers what they're getting for their service and fire them when they screw up. They need to understand they exist to help the patient, not to aid and abet a corrupt status quo.

[Joinfortmill]

12. Amen

[Hiawatha Pete]

13. K&R for visibility

[overleft]

14. Ditto here! Without it in 2014, me and my significant other could not have made ti.

[Phoenix61]

16. It hasn't saved my life but it has allowed me to get medical

insurance and not worry about lack of coverage for pre-existing condition.

[GoodRaisin]

18. Kicked. Glad to see someone bring it up again.

Something you don’t hear much about anymore in the “news”. It got me through my last 3 years before social security kicked in, when my premiums would have been $1400/month without it.

You can bet the Republo-Fascist Party is thinking about it if they get into power again.

[Vinca]

19. I've always said it saved mine, too. Pre-ACA I couldn't get insurance because of a pre-existing

condition and that condition - a very badly deteriorated hip - had me in so much pain I was beginning to feel suicidal. Then the pre-existing condition pool of the ACA opened up and within weeks I had a hip replacement and got my life back. 11 years later I just had my other hip replaced (now on Medicare). I'm forever grateful.

[Just_Vote_Dem]

20. Thanks to all who responded (and rec'ed!)

Reading your experiences made my day. So happy I'm part of this great community

[Ms. Toad]

21. My 31 y/o daughter has $200,000 in billed expenses each and every year - until

she gets a transplant and then they will increase by at least 50%. She is also at risk for a half dozen cancers (including the one which killed RBG, and the other RBG had - but didn't kill her). Catching those early enough to survive requires costly screening every six months.

Because of the ACA, she was able to stay on my health insurance until age 26. She has been unable to complete college because of her disease, so jobs with significant income and cadillac plans are not available. But because of the ACA, the minimum wage jobs she is able to have a cadillac plan through her slightly above minimum wage job. Because of the ACA, it was not a financial disaster when the company she has worked for the longest went bankrupt, and it was not clear that she would be entitled to COBRA (in bankruptcy, COBRA is often unavailable). She was on an ACA plan until she worked long enough at her new job to become eligible for employment-related insurance.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not. There were many questions about the ACA which no one could answer (including staff in members of Congress intimately involved in crafting the bill). So information needs to be more readily available.

For example - both the premium and the co-insurance/copays are subsidized, and the out-of-pocket max is lowered. If she hits the max allowed while she is on the plan, it would make sense for her to stay on that plan at an unsubsidized premium rather than switch to her employer's plan and incur a third out-of-pocket max for the year. No one could tell us what happens to the subsidies for coinsurance, copays, and out-of-pocket caps. (If you run into this question: The answer is that you start a new plan year the minute you are eligible for qualifying care through work. It is up to the insurance company whether they even give you credit for what you have already paid toward the new (much higher) cap.

In addition, she blew through 3 out-of-pocket maximums (about $9,000) in 12 months because the year had just started when her company went bankrupt, the ACA imposed a second, and her new employer imposed a 3rd. Especially for people with chronic, costly health care, regardless of how many plans they are insured under there should be no more than one out-of-pocket maximum in any 12-month period. (This is not an issue for most people - but for anyone who has had a transplant or who is on biologics - it only takes about 1 month to max out.)

[Skittles]

22. testimonials like this are important

yes indeed