Editor’s note: On our Facebook page (which, by the way, if you have not liked, please do so by clicking the button in the right column of this page), we recently posted a story about a young couple who is thinking about divorcing in order to get affordable health coverage for their daughter. They have tried to get Medicaid to help with spiralling medical costs, but the father earns too much — $40,000 — for the family to qualify. The family applied for state assistance but don’t expect to get it because of where they fall on the list. But divorcing would allow the mother to become a single, unemployed mother and qualify her for Medicaid. So this American family can’t qualify for Medicaid for their child — a system that they paid into! — but people who come here illegally can.
This post, and others similar, prompted our readers to write about their own healthcare nightmares, and in particular how their situation was made dramatically worse by the natural disaster – or as one reader put it “dumpster fire” — that is Obamacare. What follows are real stories from real readers, and there is a common theme throughout: that ever since the passage of Obamacare, a.k.a. the “Affordable Care Act,” Americans who could previously afford healthcare now cannot. They are having a harder time than ever paying mortgage-sized premiums their premiums, to say nothing of overcoming the deductibles before their insurance ever even kicks in.
“I almost had to divorce my husband but his disability finally came through. But it took so long his health went down fast due to a main artery blocked for so long. He passed at 63 yrs old this past November. It’s a shame.” — Donna
“I love my health insurance these days! All I have to do is pay $5000 a year in premiums, and then another $3000 a year for my deductible, and then my insurance kicks in and starts saving me dozens of dollars! Healthcare sure was a lot less expensive back before the government made it ‘affordable.’ Sure, more people have insurance now, but insurance is just a waste of money if you can’t afford to use it!” — Jordan
“I wish my deductible was $3000, and I work in a hospital and can’t afford their insurance.” – Roni
“Got that beat. $7200 in premiums and a $10,000 deductible before they pay anything!” — Misty
“If I were to take insurance, my cheapest rate is $480 every two weeks. So change the $5000 in premiums to $12,000 with a $6500 deductible. That’s for me and my spouse. The year before Obamacare kicked in, which was the last year I had insurance, I was paying $147 every two weeks. For family plan. It basically tripled overnight.” — Craig
“You are getting better deal than me. After my husband’s employer pays $10,000, an additional $20,000 is taken out of paycheck yearly. We get paid one time a month so it’s a hefty chunk !!! So that my doctors can tell me they can’t prescribe same medication that has worked for 20+ years because government alphabet is breathing down their necks — but that’s all my fault and other disabled and dying patients should just take an aspirin and get over it. Government should never ever be involved in my medical treatment! I have a specialist for that job!” — Kristen
“It was designed to crush the middle class, the rich could afford it, the ‘poor’ got it free and the middle class received the bill, and it was so affordable that Congress exempted themselves from it! Yeah, right.” — Babara
“Thank god my [crappy] company gave me an option to pay $11 out of every paycheck for wellness care to avoid the fine that New Jersey’s socialist governor Phil Murphy reinstated.” – Emile
“I pay $365 a week for me, my wife and 2 kids. That’s through work. Sucks.” – Joseph
“Yeah it’s great after Obamacare! Oooohhhhh wait I meant it is a dumpster fire!!!!!!!” – Austin
“Can’t afford $2150 a month and $10000 deductible for 2 retired who are not old enough for Medicare.” – Denise
“Since Obamacare, it got more expensive, crappier and I have no control over it. I can’t just buy insurance and keep it anymore. I have to buy it yearly only within a certain period of time. And why does healthcare have to mean just health insurance. Why can’t I just pay my doctor for certain things or go to whatever doctor that will see me instead of a network? Health care is strangled by government mandates and fiat. We should be moving to a marketplace system instead.” — Ian
“My parents are elderly. When only SSD, if it weren’t for Aflac, they would have had to get divorced. I’m on disability from lupus. I can’t marry my fiancée, who also has COPD and applying for disability. We want to work full time, but can’t because we would lose benefits. So, we’re looking for part-time. Government is so corrupt. — Paula
“In Massachusetts, a family of four can earn $95,000 and get Medicaid. We pay very high taxes so that the so-called poor can get free stuff.” — Judith
“Used to get Nadolol (generic blood pressure pill) for $8.00 a month. It went up to $120 a month under Obama. My mom & pop pharmacy, where I get my meds, wouldn’t even carry it after that. They couldn’t justify paying the drug company around $400 for 100 cheap generic pills that no one could afford. Thanks Obama!” — Joseph
“Obamacare has made my children uninsurable as a sole-proprietor “unless a major life change has occurred, like my husband’s death or divorce”…yes, that is what I’ve been told by an insurance agent (twice).” — Christi
