Tom – Allen, Texas
For more than three and half years, President Obama repeatedly promised Tom that if he liked his healthcare plan, he could keep it. PERIOD. Despite the President’s assurances, Tom – along with 3.5 million Americans – have recently received cancellation letters from their insurance providers. Tom is a 33 year old male with dwarfism, which makes access to the doctors he likes, trusts and knows critical to his well-being.
Not only has ObamaCare affected his healthcare, Tom has said its taken time, energy, and focus away from growing his small business. Tom ended his email saying, “As my dad often said growing up, if you’re not going to be a part of the solution, at least don’t be a part of the problem, and thus far in my case ObamaCare has definitely been a part of the problem!” |
Amy and Timothy – Richardson, Texas
Amy and her husband, Timothy, are expecting a baby girl in early 2014. What’s usually an exciting time for a family is now coupled with undeserved financial stress. The insurance they like and have will soon be cancelled. ObamaCare “has forced me to consider medical options that I would have never considered,” stated Amy in a letter.
Holly – Dallas, Texas
Holly has a small CPA firm in Dallas and has gladly provided health coverage to her employees. Unfortunately, Holly recently received a notice that all premiums for 2014 will increase by 17%. Not only does this create great uncertainty but also places unwarranted financial strain on her employees. That’s wrong, and no way to start off the new year!
Phillip –Plano, Texas
Phillip’s 11-year-old daughter's monthly insurance rate is currently $84.00 a month with Blue Cross & Blue Shield. Although she has no medical problems and has not filed any sort of claim on her in years, her renewal rate effective January 1, 2014, will be $168.26 a month for the exact same coverage. IT DOUBLED!
Phillip is a single father, police officer, without a pay raise in more than three years. He is told he makes too much to qualify for any assistance with her premiums. He writes in saying “I'm getting hit from all sides. This hurts deep. Please continue to do all you can to get this train wreck derailed.” Signed the email with, “A Struggling Single Father.”
Mark – Plano, Texas
In his own words: I can tell you that my insurance plan I and my family have been enjoying is going away [I could swear Barack said if we liked our policy, we could keep it].
In addition, our costs are going up...significantly. Several thousand dollars [I could swear Barack said this bill would reduce our policy premiums by $2500 a family].
It is obvious that every claim made by the Democrats during the "sale" of this law is a lie, grossly inaccurate, or a downright fabrication.
Shel – Lucas, Texas
Shel wrote in after receiving notice from his employer that his premiums, therefore his family coverage, would be increasing by $159.00 per month beginning January 1. He asked, “How is this affordable?”
Jane – Plano, Texas
Jane writes: "My story is not drastic; I just have a question: In what universe are maternity and pediatric benefits essential for a 51-year-old, childless, sterile, post-menopausal woman and her equally childless husband?"
Robert – Allen, Texas
“My health plan is $160 a month but with ObamaCare it will increase to a $480 a month! A threefold price increase for nothing! My current plan covers everything I need including preventative care,” writes Robert.
Alan – Plano, Texas
Alan writes: My wife and I have been self-insured small business owners for more than 20 years. Our current insurance premium for a family of four just topped $2300 per month in October. After several unsuccessful attempts to access info on healthcare.gov in October (and also being unwilling to provide detailed personal information required there given the security concerns relating to the site), we met with an insurance broker to learn what our options are in 2014. The "best" plans will reduce our premium to about $1500 per month, but at the cost of a 50% hike in our deductibles, from our current $10,000 per year aggregate for the entire family to $15,000. So you can imagine what lower deductibles would do to the premiums.
Aside from the sticker shock, the strongest feelings we experienced as a result of our meeting were fear, anger and hopelessness:
- Fear that in coming years, insurance will become too expensive to afford.
- Anger that we "find ourselves in this situation," as President Obama so carefully and arrogantly phrased it this past week -- forced into this position by an administration and Congress that are supposed to represent us, not enslave us; and,
- Hopelessness, because the way the ACA is structured, we have no option -- we must purchase insurance in order to protect our family in the case of a catastrophic injury or illness.
Don – Plano, Texas
Premiums for a 2014 family health insurance are increasing by $100 a month to almost $700 a month. For Don and his family, that means paying health insurance that is MORE than their $600 monthly house payment. Don’s frustration begs the question, “How is that ‘affordable’ health insurance?”
Robert – Princeton, Texas
Robert likes his insurance of 15 years, but because of ObamaCare services are being reduced, while premiums, deductibles and co-pays are rising.
Mark – Allen, Texas
Mark writes: The company I have worked for has provided me with good healthcare insurance for over 30 years. It is self-insured for its healthcare insurance and targets that the company pays 70% of the costs and the employees pay 30%. Because it is self-insured, it works hard to minimize healthcare costs and sponsors weight control programs, healthy eating, and help to quit smoking. These programs have had a positive impact on holding down the healthcare costs. Much of this positive impact was wiped out by ObamaCare as the regulations and requirements of this bad legislation are causing a 20% increase in premiums and healthcare costs in 2014. The company warned us all to expect significant increases in the next few years, also as ObamaCare costs continue to kick in.
Keith – McKinney, Texas
ObamaCare increased Keith’s premium increased over $400 a month leaving him no choice but to cancel his health plan - which he liked and would have liked to keep - all together.
Heather – Princeton, Texas
Heather writes: This week I received a letter from my insurance company that my insurance would increase $100 a month. Prior to that I had already received a letter telling me of the tax on my insurance that would increase my rates by $30 - so our family has had a $130 a month increase in our insurance – totaling a 15% increase in one year! I thought this was called the Affordable Care Act- not the Unaffordable Care Act. I could tolerate small increases each year- but this is crazy!
