Has anyone (in U.S.) had any bad experiences with Obama Care?

I was stucked with @pstegman reply. Good point to note.

I have epilepsy, fibromyalgia, asthma, diabetes, coccydenia, Prinzmetal's angina and a mild form of cardiomyopathy. I was uninsurable except through my husbands work. He is 63 yrs old, and not in great shape himself. As he is 5 years older than me, he was going to have to work until he was 70 so I could reach retirement age - I didn't think he would last that long since his work days were typically 14hrs long/7days a week. He might get one day off every 2 weeks. I finally decided to check out the ACA, and discovered we could both get better coverage for less than what we already were paying, so he retired. It's been 3 weeks now and my husband is starting to smile again.

ba8alou, I suppose it depends on the definition of "assisted living." This particular facility (Florida) does receive payments from Medicaid. But it's a non-profit facility that receives funding from the state, rather than a private facility, and many of the residents are very, very frail.

Realtime, in ny state, al is never covered by medicaid. Don't know about other states.

“…create a well informed committee made up of insurers, dr.'s and insurance companies, hospitals, and business owners to come up with plans that will meet the consumers expectations and a more affordable pricing …”

Very sorry, Junkkit, but that is what SHOULD have happened during the previous administration. One big reason Obama was elected president is because almost nothing was done to improve health care as you suggested during the previous 8 years. 50 million people without insurance finally got to be just too many.

Please listen to SoHillsGal, an insurance agent, who every day is finding people affordable coverage. Remember that the premiums and out of pocket maximums are scaled to income, so many people who think they can’t afford it are surprised when they actually meet with an insurance agent and find out that they can.

And yes, Obamacare is being used as an excuse for all sorts of things, many of which were already happening beforehand, like overall rate increases. If you were running a company and wanted a handy excuse to cover up your misdeeds, blaming ‘the government’ usually works. The difference is, in this case, Obamacare set actual performance standards, minimum acceptable benefits, and affordability caps, along with the requirement that no one be denied coverage. All of that is shaking up the medical insurance ‘industry’, and they’re feeling a little uncomfortable right now. But 50 million people are able to sleep at night knowing that a heart attack, or a cancer diagnosis, is not going to bankrupt them and their families. And I am one of them.

I'd like your opinions about this. My mother is in an assisted living facility. She pays the entire cost---she isn't on Medicaid---but I believe most of the other residents are on Medicaid. We just received a letter from the facility stating: "Despite practicing every cost saving measure, we are forced to readjust resident fees as of May 1, 2014 due to the mandated Obamacare Health Insurance and the every [sic] increasing cost of food, utilities, and insurance." My mother's rate went up almost 10%. The letter ended "Please be patient as we struggle with the new and onerous mandates." Is there any possible basis in fact for this letter or are the administrators of the facility using Obamacare as an excuse for a rate increase?

I know many have heard that people had their health insurance cancelled but what is left out of the information is that a vast majority of those people were automatically moved to new plans offered by the same insurance companies. These people might not be happy with their new coverage, but they got a plan without going through HealthCare.gov.

And please note, many of the people above probably would have had their insurance cancelled even without the ACA.

Huge mess! I have spent over 100 hours trying to get signed up and have been unable to do so yet! I am beyond disgusted. These problems are THEIR computer issues and I have spent so much time trying to fix it it is ridiculous. In Dec I was told to write a formal appeal, which I have done, but of course I have not yet heard back from them and last week when I called on the phone I was threatened by the "supervisor" that I just better sign up for something or even though I had submitted this appeal that they would fine me anyway and I would still have no insurance. Beyond disgusted

To SoHillsGal..how is a $25 premium. A 350 ded and $10 copay for someone "not in any way disabled" right? He is highly subsidized by taxpayers when he is not even disabled! He pays more for a haircut than a doctor visit. That is not a "reasonable" premium. He should be insurable at the same rates that others have to pay. Part of the problem is expecting excellent health care for practically free. Health care is not free or cheap.

I can’t help but take issue with some of the comments and point out “the elephant in the room” underlying in the tone of the original question and implied by a few of the subsequent responses.

First if I may, I’ll make an analogy, then segue to my grievance here...

It’s anyone’s prerogative to have a cynical/pessimistic outlook on the world. Looking over one’s shoulder that some sorta bogey man gonna get em when they’re not keeping a watchful eye on other folks, or is about to take something away from them that was never rightfully theirs in the first place. Some personalities like arrive to an airport 3 hours before what others consider a manageable check in time. I get it. Convenience. For some, change isn't easy. But on the backs of some paranoias is why corporations make all sorts of money selling things like extended vehicle maintenance warranties (post manufacturers) or gap insurances to cover between a vehicles “blue book” value and any residual loan payments still to be made. In reality, those “perks” always seem to find some fine print loophole when being called upon for payout.

I’m a single black man in my mid 50’s. And these days I’m a full time caregiver to my 85 year old Mom. Thanks to my upbringing, I’ve enjoyed the luxury of life experiences most folks only get to dream of. Ivy educated. Pedigreed career, corner office, lived at some enviable addresses. Well traveled, etc. Now it’s my time to give my Mom a hand. She’s a feisty ol’ gal who’d never ask for anyone’s help. My caregiving isn’t lazy, cushy situation or a simple task. It’s probably the hardest job I’ve undertaken yet. For her, aging is complex and not an easy “one size fits all” transition. Nor (at this time) do I think “banishing” her to a substandard lifestyle on my behalf is ethical. So I’m doing it.

Since 2000, I haven’t had the luxury of “traditional” corporate provided healthcare. President Obama recognized that people like myself deserved a respectable choice. I’m grateful to have accessed Maryland’s network of Affordable Health Care plans. Here n there, I’ve advised on some noteworthy projects. As a self employed consultant, could have paid into some of those “fly by night” pseudo healthcare plans that folks are now pining over. Wisely they’re now been called out. Even then, I knew most were smoke n mirrors just waiting to prey on my hard earned income. Never “drank the cool aid” or signed into their too good to be true premiums. I’ve worked for many decades making sure people are fairly compensated in the workforce. Back in the late 1980’s, the “Fortune #1” company where I worked (in a traditional employment role) put pensioners on notice that they couldn’t afford to subsidize their “cadillac” coverages. Collective bargaining cried blasphemy. Those who are blessed with golden parachutes always seem to have a “let them eat cake” attitude about life and others around them. Nothing new about that. That advisement had been decades in the making, yet lots of time to craft the outcry from the outraged. I’m not so sympathetic to folks crying wolf when what they were accustomed to gets challenged. That’s real life.

I wish the demonizing would stop. Just yesterday, after shuttling my Mom to PT, we’d stopped to pick up a few grocery items. While buckling her in the passengers seat (leaning over from the drivers side) I carelessly left one foot on the ground and car door open. High winds slammed the door shut on my leg. Another time during a spring rain I lost my footing, bouncing off a guardrail, sliding on my back, 10 feet across a slimy sun deck falling onto an adjacent lower sidewalk. Meanwhile my Mom was totally distracted, engrossed in her own concentration, inspecting our caller ID for a phone number of cousin she’d lost touch with. Oblivious to my yelps. Once when she’d come home after a surgical procedure, I’ve gone days on little sleep to end up doing something careless to my finger with strawberries and a kitchen knife. Scary situations where my Mom was of little help. Me without health insurance. In the bigger picture, all minor stuff most folks on this thread probably take for granted. Thank goodness I was able to brush em off. In the meanwhile it's just pure luck nothing catastrophic occurred to my own life as her sole caregiver. These are real life situations. Now I’m thankful for not being treated like an outcast or marginalized. I’m glad OUR president bravely fulfilled a need that was neglected.

We all matter. Period.

Some folks seem to thrive on whining, find any platform to inappropriately place themselves on the “me too” bandwagon, place blame or hint some non sequitur is “unpatriotic”. My bad experiences with ACA are tolerating ugly side some folks have been waiting for any excuse to show us anyway. I love the “maybe” in the original question. As some would probably respond to my heartfelt tome, “no offense, buddy” LOL. But it is.

Obamacare is just too expensive. It would have cost me $1,0000 per month in just my monthly premium with a $10,000 deductible. So, I would have had to potentially pay 22,000 out of my pocket before anything would be paid. I will take my chances out of the market. For me, they need to scrap this program, put it back in the private sector hands and create a well informed committee made up of insurers, dr.'s and insurance companies, hospitals,and business owners to come up with plans that will meet the consumers expectations and a more affordable pricing and to allow cross state lines of purchasing plans and medical care. This will create competition and keep costs in check. Having this in the government hands is like giving candy to a baby, except this candy is every hard earned Americans money.

I have Medicare as primary and as a federal retiree I have continued to carry health insurance and currently have BC/BS. The ACA doesn't affect me directly, but I strongly support it. Some 80,000 people in Nevada have signed up for Medicaid, far exceeding those on the private programs. People need health care and the expansion of benefits is great. It needs to go further in the future.

If your mother lost her secondary insurance, she would have had a special enrollment period to enroll in a Medicare supplement and Part D drug plan. That would pick up her deductible, 20% coinsurance and many of her RX expenses for a minimal premium.
Most of the people I have enrolled in ACA (Obamacare) ARE working but at jobs that don't offer insurance and don't pay enough to afford an insurance premium in addition to their other living expenses. Some are self employed & were not able to get ins because of pre-existing conditions (high blood pressure, diabetes, etc) and can now be insured.
A few were early retirees (early 60's) pushed out of their jobs & either not able to find another job or aren't able to work due to health/family situations and don't qualify for Medicare/SSID. Our state did not expand Medicaid so those who are not working get NO insurance. They have to pay the entire premium out of pocket if they want insurance. Otherwise they are exempt from purchasing insurance if their income is too low. I will agree it's not a perfect system but it's better than what we had. It sounds like your family has been very fortunate in many ways and this change is making you feel some of the financial burdens that multitudes of others have been feeling for decades.

Some of these posts anger me. First of all, my mom is living without meds, she is ambulatory, and she is doing very well five year beyond diagnosis. She is our treasure and the heart of our home. We take VERY good care of her. My father retired as a Group Vice President of an insurance company which left her with secondary insurance coverage for life. This made it possible for us to cover all her medical bills in combination with Medicare. With the role out of Obamacare, her secondary coverage has been cancelled. She is about to have a joint replacement and we will be covering the 20% remainder out of pocket. I HATE Obamacare and those who diminish the value of the "5%" who are now extremely burdened financially so that those who are NOT working and can NOT pay for their own coverage can be covered. Sorry about you daughter (to the posted above) who was left without insurance after the dissolution of her marriage but that is HER responsibility to provide her own coverage the same way that I have provided my own coverage for the entire duration of my life without expecting an handout. We are looking at a $10,000 expense this year and we WORKED our whole lives to PAY for coverage. And, btw, I have had friends with cancer too who were never (in the past) dropped from plans due to pre-existing conditions.

I am an insurance agent who has been helping people enroll. Almost without exception, I have been able to help people get insurance who hadn't had any or had insurance they struggled to afford. My son has a congenital condition that is not in any way disabling but I couldn't find ins for him. When I finally did, it was a $5000 deductible, then a 50/50 split. The premium was about 1/4 of his monthly income, about the same as his rent. With the ACA, his premium is $25 mo, $350 ded and $10 office visits. It truly is affordable care for him and he can afford to get the follow up brain MRI he's been putting off as he couldn't afford it with his old insurance.

I've had people come in ranting & raving about being forced to get ins and the Gov but by the time they are done with the process and have health insurance, at a cost they can afford, they are singing a different tune. If you have had exceptional health ins at work, good for you. Many people have been stuck in jobs they hate or needed to quit for other reasons but have been unable to because they needed the insurance. Complaining that your insurance was too good is like complaining you won the lottery and now have to pay taxes.

It seems as though there are winners and losers with the ACA as far as premiums, deductibles and coverage availability. My personal experience is that we lost our group coverage (my husband is a self-employed physician who had coverage through a physician's group), found private insurance with slightly lower premiums, but with a sharply higher deductible. Our total potential out of pocket annual cost is over $24,000.

I have a different perspective on the effects of the ACA. My husband has a solo practice, and greatly dislikes large group "assembly line" medicine. With only three employees, his patients talk to the same people, who answer the phone and know who they are, each time they call, and they never need to navigate a phone menu. The waiting room has six chairs and they are rarely used for more than 10 minutes at a time. We looked at the idea of concierge medicine a few years ago when it was considered new, and we realized that it was the type of care that he had been providing for over 20 years, with no extra fee. Unfortunately, the ACA will force him into early retirement. This year we were required to spend several thousand dollars to purchase a new computer and software to be able to bill insurance charges under the new billing codes which go into effect later this year. Our billing person went to training sessions to learn about the new billing procedures. We decided to spend the money for this change even though, as all self-employed people know, it comes directly out of our pocket. The final straw will be the requirement for electronic medical records. Our small office would need to spend over $100,000 for the software, training and conversion to EMR. At 62, we are not going to do that. Although my husband would have been perfectly happy to continue practicing for several more years, and still gets requests from potential new patients, his small practice just cannot absorb that cost. These new requirements will sharply increase operating costs for physicians, and I believe that in the future, nearly all doctors will be employed by hospitals, and individual practices will disappear. In my opinion, this is exactly the opposite of the "medical home" model that was supposed to be the goal a couple of years ago. I am concerned that this will limit access to care, especially in rural areas.

Wow! This is the first forum I've seen where people were happy about Obamacare. In my case, my parents were dropped from my dad's company's retiree policy and had to find Medicare suplement insurance. Since they both have dementia, I took care of this for them. The new insurance costs them 50% more per month than before. Then my husband's former employer dropped retirees, and, once again, I went insurance shopping and we will have more expensive premiums and higher deductibles, all on a fixed income. I know a lot of young people (under 35) who are being forced to buy insurance even though they don't want it, and they are shocked at how high their premiums and deductibles are. My son's girlfriend will be paying $2,500 in premiums with a $2,500 out of pocket requirement before the insurance pays much of anything. My 55 year old sister will have to pay $600 per month in premiums ($7,200 per year) with a $5,000 deductible. So that's $12,200 for something she doesn't want in the first place. She only goes to the doctor once a year and it usually costs her $150. I realize a car accident or other emergency could cost her a lot more in the long run, but she doesn't have the money to shell out $7,200 for premiums, so she's just going to pay the penalty and take her chances.

So good for you all of the posters who love Obamacare, but it is an actuarial mess and we would all have beenbetter off in the long run if they had just expanded Medicaid to cover more people.

Needing coverage for my wife, we looked into obamacare before we had all of our income data for last year. Family of 5 but we only need insurance for her as I have the VA and the kids were all adopted from the state and have coverage until 18. At that point the premiums plus deductible just for coverage for her, was going to equal 56% of our annual income, and no subsidy, before we would receive a penny in benefits.
Then after receiving all of our income paperwork for the year, an additional $9k, we then with the additional income qualified for the subsidy. That changed the plans to a more affordable premium and deductible. However, currently we receive over $1000 in meds from Rx companies patient assistance programs. If we sign up for obamacare then the co-pays for Dr and meds will cost us right at 50% of our monthly income. We can't afford the affordable insurance touted. Another thing we found, on all of the plans offered the Dr co pay was listed on the obamacare site as $5 per Dr visit. When you clicked and went to the actual insurance co site and looked at each plan individually, every single one of them stated Dr co pay was actually $75 per visit.

Lots of mis- informed answers on both sides here. The only good result from the ACA is that sick and uninsured can now get coverage. So why not just have a law or program for that...instead of a huge revamp that is and will cost taxpayers Billions and Billions and ruin our excellent health care system. It is a fact that people in England and Canada that can afford it buy insurance on top of paying health care tax because the government system is slow; overburdened and inefficient. So that is where the U.S. is heading. Insurance is not all bad and gov't provision is not all good.

freqflyer, really -going to whitehouse website for all the correct information. Is this the transparent whitehouse?

Z

I am glad to read above that some people actually know what the ACA is all about and have correct information.

Those who dislike the ACA usually don't like change, who does. And part of that group are running on misinformation regarding this program.

This website has all the correct information, including a section regarding debunked myths. http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform

I'm thrilled with the ACA. I am paying less $300 a month less for similar coverage with a lower deductible than I was paying before. AND I don't have to worry about being dumped if I get some kind of medical problem. I'm self-employed and before the ACA, I wouldn't go to the doctor for different things because I didn't want it on my record for future insurance company reference. Because they could have denied me coverage. I LOVE the ACA.

I have a friend with a horrific medical history who previously had care through a high risk pool. She chooses not to be employed by a company with benefiits and contracts instead....likely the better choice for her, as her medical condition tends to flare up occasionally. Also, she is a fighter, so she rather not consider apply for Disability until she absolutely has to. Obamacare is a great thing for her, no doubt and I am pleased my taxes support that siutation.

However, my dislike and fear of Obamacare is (a) all the "tough love" part of the bill is not effective until Obama is out of office....suspicious
(b) I believe by squeezing the insurance companies and the doctors the quality of health care will decrease for all.

All the celebrities pushing this are rich and can afford concierge doctors....personal pay for premium services, including house calls. Do you think Alonzo Mourning waits in his nephralogists waiting room? I distrust celebrity endorsements.

I think Health Care will follow the path of the Public School systems - highly accessible, mostly mediocre with small pockets of excellence. That is what government run institutions deliver. And before all the retired teachers blog-kill me, it is fair to say the American educational system is broken, look at the international comparisons. Indian and Asian students beat us out in score applying for American Universities. I had a first rate private education, my parents blue collar, middle class, made this a priority. I attended State University and worked though a good portion of my Bachelors and all my Masters. I was driven. My High School peers that had high grades mostly studied Law, Medicine, or Business. Only one brilliant girl became a teacher, all the others that studied education were C students..... so I fear as we make medicine a less desirable career it will only attract the C students, and I was really hoping my future cardiologist would have been a member of the National Honor Society.

I had a friend (50) retire young and return to his homeland, England. We spoke about medical expenses and he said, anyone who can afford it has private insurance because it can take 6 months to see a doctor and those are not the best doctors.

So, I do not bash it, but I do not drink the kool-aid. I wait and see, I believe we may be in for a rude awakening. In the meantime I make funding my own retirement a priority, such that I have options.

I need to ask our friend in Congress about that.... thanks for the info. I thought it was the staffers who had to switch.

All Congressional members had to switch to Obamacare.

Obama care is going to cripple this country and our elderly are going to be treated like they don't matter, I have already seen it with my own parents. That is bad enough but the worst part of this whole plan is if its really a good plan why is it that the President, Congress and other bodies of Government don't have to be covered under it, why do they get specialized better insurance. No one will ever convince me that ObamaCare is a good thing and as you become more familar with it and try to get your elderly loved one care the they deserve and can't get you will be as angry as I am and your feeling about this plan will change. We need to take care of our elderly and ObamaCare does not do that.

Many of my friends have lost their insurance due to Obamacare. Through the ACA (if they could even sign up) they are paying higher premiums for less coverage, some coverage they don't need or want, and their deductible is so high, they might has well not even have the insurance. Plus now the medical flexible spending accounts have been abolished because of ACA which means everything they pay out of pocket is after tax money. Some deal huh?

Obamacare is not an insurance plan provided by the Government. It provides a network for people to find medical insurance for their needs. Individuals select the plan that will work for them through insurance companies.

If a company changes its plans, that is a company decision to lessen their overhead. Our insurance plan where I work has changed every year for the 22 years that I have worked here, it is nothing new.

Those individuals that lost their plans had insurance plans that did not meet the new requirements. Those plans would drop you in a heartbeat if you discovered you had cancer.

The Obamacare Plan merely tightened up insurance coverage making sure everyone who wanted insurance could obtain insurance--even those with pre-existing conditions.

My inital question was has anyone had a bad experience with Obama care. We are trying to gauge what we might be facing in the future as our own medical decisions need to be made. We have many friends, neighbors and family who's insurance companies dropped insurance for the whole company, have raised deductables to 10,000 copays to 40.00 -50.00 and premiums have risen from 24-38 %. The insurance for ALL these people is worse than it was. Maybe people in different locations are being hit harder, I don't know.
I am happy for all the self employed people who now can afford health care who could not before. But it does come as a cost to others.