The Definitive Guide to How Obamacare is Destroying American Lives

On Sunday night, I wrote a short post soliciting stories from my readers about how Obamacare has already immediately impacted their lives. I asked that all of these emails be directed to ObamacareMakesMeSick@Yahoo.com. I expected a response; I didn’t expect it to be quite so overwhelming.

Over the last 24 hours, my inbox has been flooded with hundreds of emails. What you’ll read in this post represents a portion of them. I’m only one guy (with a fulltime job and twins) — I wasn’t able to go through every single message just yet. Some, I left out because the information was too specific and personal, to the extent that it would reveal the identity of the person who sent it. Some, I couldn’t include because they are simply (well written and accurate) editorials about Obamacare, but they don’t speak to the personal, physical impact of Obamacare on American families. Others, I just haven’t had a chance to read. I expect there will be a sequel to this post coming very soon. Thank you for your stories.

In the meantime, here are the tales of many, many, many real Americans. Share this with your friends. Every time some Statist nincompoop extols the virtues of Obamacare; every time they insist that the “Affordable Care Act” has done nothing but “help” low and middle income families; every time they babble incoherently about how Obamacare isn’t “perfect” but it’s still “better” than what we had before — show them this. Challenge them to read what is happening out there. This isn’t abstract. It isn’t academic. It isn’t a matter of ideology. It isn’t even an issue of constitutionality (although it’s that, also). This is about people. People with kids, and bills, and health problems. This is about people who can no longer afford their health coverage, their mortgages, their lifesaving medication. This is about doctors and nurses leaving medicine behind, driven away by destructive bureaucratic interference. This is about moms and dads losing their jobs so that their employers can compensate for the financial burden of Obamacare. This is about people without insurance because of Obamacare, now being fined for not having insurance because of Obamacare. This is about business owners driven to the edge of bankruptcy. This is real. We heard a lot of fantasies about what Obamacare was “supposed” to accomplish, now it’s time to talk about what it’s actually doing.

So when they say you are “heartless” for opposing Obamacare, show them why it’s heartless to support it.

Sure, the President, the media, Hollywood and the DC elite have touted some “success stories.” But they are few and far between — and they come at a cost. This is that cost. For every person thanking his lucky stars for this new healthcare entitlement, thousands of low and middle income families are suffering.

Is that fair? Is that compassionate? Is that moral?

Notice a few things about the stories that follow: Many of the families facing financial ruin because of the ACA are young. Many are single mothers. Moreover, the vast majority of these emails are from women. I thought Obamacare was supposed to especially help women? Well, I guess for every Sandra Fluke, there’s a million Annes from Nebraska. The former, deeply concerned about getting cheap birth control on the tax payer’s dime. The latter, more worried about having access to affordable lifesaving medication for their children. With Obamacare, the former takes precedent over the latter.

This is insanity.

I’ll be printing this compilation out and sending it to the White House. Then I’ll send a copy to some of our legislators. These people can’t be allowed to hide from what they’ve done.

This is Obamacare (emphasis mine):

Meg, Georgia:

I’m a 12-hr night shift nurse in a hospital (the irony). I work part time so that my husband and I can trade off caring for our one-year-old (he’s a firefighter who works 24 hrs on- 48 off on a rotation). My manager called me and stated I would have to, because of Obamacare- related insurance cost restraints , etc (her words), either go up on the number of hours I work each week or become a per diem employee. Did I mention I’m 6 months pregnant? So, I had to decide whether to go up to working more hours than our family can handle or go “per diem” in which case I’d immediately lose all the paid sick leave I’ve been earning, hoping to use for maternity leave, as well as lose a short term disability policy I’ve been paying for which would also help with maternity leave. Guess which we chose? How on earth do you plan for the future with the future shape-shifting constantly on the whims of egomaniacal and out-of-touch politicians? Thank goodness for a supportive and geographically close extended family.

Lisa, Oregon:

I am a small business owner and have a family of 4. My health insurance costs are fixing to double and my deductible going up from 3000 to 10,000. Obamacare makes me SICK!

Sara, Colorado:

I have four children. My husband works for a small business that has never been able to offer a health plan. We treat most sickness using natural medicine, by choice. Since health plans never cover nutrition counseling, chiropractic, supplements, or anything else that could possibly keep us from getting sick in the first place, it has never made sense to take hundreds of dollars from our one household income to pay for coverage.

We are some of those poor souls without healthcare.

Under the new laws, we get to either pay for “coverage” that I guarantee we would only use in a catastrophic situation (we haven’t been on antibiotics in 7 years), OR pay a fine.

Neat. Thanks. Just what we needed in this economy. I would like for them to keep their “free” healthcare. I’ll keep using my essential oils and herbs and keeping my kids healthy and strong on my own, by the grace of God.

Trish, Virginia:

We received a notice from my husband’s health plan that the insurance we have now isn’t economical enough according to the Obamacare regs, We don’t know what will happen next. We have a low premium and a moderately-high deductible (which we meet very late in the year). I’m guessing higher premiums and deductibles are in our future.

Jess, Oklahoma:

We are losing our current health insurance at the end of this year. My husband’s employer is getting rid of it due to Obamacare. Our insurance currently covers my husband, myself, and our two daughters. My husband’s employer is having to replace our current insurance with a policy that is $400 more a month and an added $3000 deductible. The worst of it is that it will now cost him $100 more a month to cover me, his WIFE! Disgusting.

Nick, Florida:

My current health insurance policy for my family of four is $375/month. The cheapest I can find for relatively similar coverage is $784/month. I can “save” money by going with a high deductible plan and pay $630/month. How is that saving? I can’t afford health insurance at these prices, and my employer doesn’t provide insurance to employees.

Pam, Georgia:

Two of our doctors that we have been using for years made the decision to simply retire early and wash their hands of the whole system. One is nearing 70, but he had planned to practice for at least 5 more years, health permitting. Once he saw what was happening to the medical industry, he threw in the towel and will take a well-earned retirement. The other is younger, but he has invested well and was part of a group that has to turn away patients. He is, he told me, contemplating moving out of the country. He may practice again once he is free of the onerous burden of ACA. Another female doctor, in her 40’s, confided to me that she would retire if she could. She is trying to figure out a way. THAT is an effect that will ripple down to all of us, as we lose the priceless treasure of experience and caring. There will not be enough doctors to handle the caseload, so we will be shunted to PA’s. The wait time for an office visit will increase. We will ALL experience a drop in the quality of care, and that is a terrible price to pay when there were other solutions far less damaging to provide for lower income Americans.

KB, Illinois:

The company I work for has capped all 250+ part time employees to 25 hours a week so that even if they go over a little, they still won’t top the 30 hour “full time” designation. Employees who were struggling to pay bills while working 35 hours a week now get written up if they go over 25 hours a week. Thank you, Obamacare.

Kira, Idaho:

We were able to afford insurance for our family of six for our entire marriage (12 years) until the “Affordable” Care Act forced our insurance company to jack rates over a year in advance because they were already suffering added expenses from Obamacare. We had to cancel our insurance and have now been uninsured for over a year. We will not be enrolling in Obamacare, which means we are uninsured AND looking at a huge financial penalty, and we are just praying our four sons don’t do anything boyish and need to visit the ER.

Michelle, no state given:

So not only are we losing are affordable health care plan and are insurance premiums going up my pay will be cut because even though I am covered for insurance through my husband if I work to many hours my they have to provide me with health cage so the cut my hours or force me to go full time and cut my pay. Which if I have to go full time I might as well quit my job because why work full time if it’s just going to pay for daycare. Either way I’m screwed.

Elizabeth, Tennessee:

Insurance through my husband’s job will be 1/3 of his paycheck before taxes. We still have to eat and pay a mortgage on top of that. No money for anything else.

Amber, South Carolina:

Obamacare has already had a negative impact on our family and we don’t even know our rate increases for 2014 yet!

We are a one-income family since I choose to stay at home and raise our three children. My husband has a well paying job at an engineering firm where he manages their computers and servers. We used to have great health insurance with low co-pays and premiums. Our rates increased by 50% from 2012 to 2013. Our co-pays also went up while our coverage levels decreased. I’m scared to think how much they’ll go up come January.

Our doctors offices instituted new policies and it’s harder to get appointments, harder to get medication refills, harder to communicate with the doctors at all! Appointments are shorter, the doctors attention is distracted, it’s more red tape and less patient care.

Exactly what part of the “Affordable Care Act” is affordable? It’s not affordable for us at all!

Hey Matt,

Anonymous:

My husband works for my fathers small business, I got let go on maternity leave, we have a 17 month old son. There’s the background.

My father can’t afford to offer health insurance to insure us on the cheapest plan would cost around $15,000 a year. I make nothing, my husband makes around $42,000 a year, we don’t qualify for state insurance because my husband makes too much so we pay the state $182.50 a month for our baby to have insurance. Mind you we have a mortgage, a car, and all the bills and taxes associated with it, oh yea and we have to eat every now and then.

This “affordable” care comes out and they want $488 a month for just my husband and I. That’s insane how is that affordable.

Before I get the go get a job, or something about not working I have applied for hundreds of jobs . Everything from a greeter at Walmart to management positions, I was working for a management firm before I gave birth. I applied for a job that would pay slightly above minimum wage, would have to pay $300 a week in day care which would leave me $14.54 after daycare, with no medical benefits. Guess what I didn’t even get that!!! But the government feels that $488 on top of my sons $182.50 is affordable! How, how is that affordable?! My family’s business can’t afford to hire me because he can’t afford to keep his staff now with all that this Obamacare has stirred up!!!!

Kristin, no state given:

My husband works for a wonderful small engineering company. We no longer have prescription coverage and after our deductible still have to pay 80/20 instead of being covered 100% like before Obamacare.

Katie, Texas:

My husband and I are twenty-somethings with student debt up to our eyeballs, full time jobs and a toddler. We hover right above the ‘poverty line’, and we work our butts off to pay bills and provide for our child. We’re your typical middle class family.

My company provided insurance for us for an extremely good price of $95 a month. Since the ACA was signed in, it has gone up to $350 a month to be up to ACA ‘guidelines’. You might be thinking ‘just $350?’, and while it’s true that this seems like pocket change to you, for a young mom who clips coupons and works on a strict budget to put food on the table, it is devastating.

The saddest part is this: If I quit my job, I could get free insurance through Medicaid, food stamps and WIC. And you wonder why there is an epidemic of laziness and entitlement in this country?

Mike, Indiana:

So it is short and sweet. In order for my employment to become ACA compliant, they have taken away our cafeteria discount, our shift and weekend differential pay and our holiday pay. This is only for all hourly employees. Oh yeah, and I work in an ER in a HOSPITAL!

Lori, Tennessee:

My dad is 73. He lives on Social Security (that’s his only “income”) and his monthly Medicare premium is deducted from his check. Several years ago, he also purchased a Medicare Advantage Plan thru BCBS which he also pays a monthly premium. All his medical claims are now filed directly thru BCBS – that’s how an Advantage plan works – it takes the place of Medicare, and it gives you additional coverage (for medication, extended long term care, etc). Even though he gets extra coverage, he pays two premiums 1) standard monthly Medicare premium deducted from SS check and 2) monthly premium paid directly to BCBS.
In 2013, he pays $104.90 for Medicare and $95 to BCBS.

…BCBS sent him a letter telling him that his current plan is now going to cost $121 a month ($26 more a month). That increase itself is bad because it may mean he will have to drop the Advantage plan altogether.

What is worse is that Medicare has not announced what their 2014 premiums will be. Remember, it is open enrollment time. How can my 73 year old dad compare plans and their costs without knowing whether his Medicare premium is going to increase or not.

…The government/Medicare/HHS knows it is open enrollment time. How can they not publish the Medicare premium amount for 2014?

Only one scenario seems obvious to me. The 2014 Medicare premium is increasing and the gov’t wants to wait until the last minute to tell Seniors. I could be wrong, but something stinks here.

I didn’t think Seniors were going to have to bear the cost burden of Obamacare too, but I’m not surprised.

April, Alabama:

My name is April and I am a 25 year old stay at home mom of two boys from Alabama. My husband busts his back working two jobs and we barely, make ends meet. Two weeks ago we received our letter from BCBS regarding our 2014 premiums. Right now our premium for our family of four is $352 a month. As of January 1st, it will jump to $686. Our mortgage is $714. I could have another house for what we will have to pay for insurance. That is if we can pay it at all!

Angie, North Carolina:

We priced healthcare thru the new system and because we’re not on welfare, it would cost us a whopping $1800 a month for coverage. It sucks because our current coverage thru work doesn’t even cover well child visits or immunizations for our kids.

On top of it all, Obama and his lackeys worked into their Healthcare Reform Bill additional taxes for “landlords”. We had to move due to a job change and the market was so horrible in North Carolina we would have had to take a loss on our home. Instead we rented it out and thanks to Obama, now have to pay TAX on the rental money paid to us….not rental PROFIT, ALL RENT paid. Never mind that we are not making a cent on the deal – in fact when property taxes and homeowners insurance are factored in, we are losing $700 a month. The additional tax ON TOP of the rental “income” and personal loss just feels like he’s pouring salt in the wound.

DeEllen, Arizona:

We are going to have to pay the fine because there is absolutely no way we can afford insurance for our whole family here. It is an extra $600 a month here. And who knows if what I have is even Obamacare compliant.

Sherry, Michigan:

My name is Sherry and I am a 27 year old Wife and Homeschooling mom of 2 from Michigan. Our family is at the peak of health, I work out, eat healthy and the last time I was hospitalized was in the 1st grade from an injury. My husband and children are both very healthy and at the peak of health as well.Because of the New Obamacare law, my husbands company will only be covering employees but not their children or spouses. That leaves myself and my two daughters to find care on our own. I went onto the Marketplace website and I was quoted 525 dollars with a 3,000 dollar deductiable to cover me and my girls. My husband through his work will be paying 240 dollars a month just for him with a 1500 dollar deductiable. We make a little less then 60K a year. Paying over 700 bucks a month to be covered is outrageous. Our Premiums from last year to this year have more then doubled! What makes me upset is My parents are both in their early 60s and both has battled cancer these past few years, have health problems up the wazoo are paying very close to what our family is paying. This is ridiclous and I hope people realize what a mistake Obamacare really it.

Jan, Idaho:

Keeping this short and sweet. I’m Jan, a female from Idaho. I live on my pension plus Social Security, which I started drawing this year at age 62. Been treated twice for cancer in the last five years. My current Blue Cross policy is not great, but it’s what I could afford. It is not acceptable under the ACA, however and I’ll be losing it just after the first of the year. Preliminary inquiries into another policy point toward a doubling of my annual deductible (from $5,000.00 a year to $10,000.00) and a more than $200.00 increase in my already-substantial monthly premium payments.

This increase is not something that I can afford. After my current coverage is deactivated in the next couple of months, I will be uninsured, for the first time in my life. I have accepted that fact, and come to terms with it. The ACA? I will not comply. I will pay the fine, instead.

Obamacare will be the death of me.

Julie, Washington:

We have been self employed since 2002 and have bought health insurance for us since then. Received notice from our insurance in Sept. that our policy does not meet the new ACA requirements and they have chosen another plan for us starting Jan. 1, 2014. Currently we pay for the both of us $539, with a $10,000 deductible. Our ‘new’ plan will have only a $5000 deductible but the monthly payment
for the both of us goes to $1095.12! We can not afford that. $500 is the max in our budget now. From what I have been able to see from the horrible website, we will probably have to go on Medicaid.

Christy, Alabama:

We own a small business. Actually, my husband runs an internet sales business. He used to own a small janitorial cleaning service. The economy of 2008 (and forward) kind of wiped that out…..after almost 20 good years. We purchase our health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama. We have to buy from them individually. Our premiums right now are $420/month. We just got our notice that we can’t keep our plan, and if we want to get the plan that is closest to our old plan, it will cost us $1005/month. That is about the same as our mortgage. We need a new van for our growing family of 8. We would like to redo our kitchen. Neither of these are now an option. We will also have to dial back our spending every month. Imagine those decisions on a massive scale across America…… I can hear the crash already.

Laura, Utah:

My family’s health insurance skyrocketed. Our health insurance is now $300 more than my mortgage! We are hanging on to our insurance. We will not support a socialist nation!

Melanie, California:

I got our new rates in the mail a few weeks ago, we pay for it ourselves, and found out that our monthly rates are going from $700 a month to $1000 a month for a family of 5. “Ok, that’s not too bad, I guess. It sucks, but we will make it.” Then I look closer at our coverage and start crying. I haven’t cried for 7 years before this day. We have a $5000 deductible that we have to pay before the insurance will cover anything!!!!! This includes doctor visits and prescriptions! What is the monthly premium for if we still have to shell out all the money every time our kid gets pink eye? Maybe we should cancel our insurance and save our $1000 a month and pay the fine for not having insurance. Then at least we would be able to afford going to the doctor if we needed to, since we will pay for it either way. But wait, I have surgery scheduled in January. We are screwed, there is no way out. I hope the end of the world happens soon. I really do. Thanks for the opportunity to vent and express my sadness at what has happened to our once great country.

Tom, no state given:

I am a 58YO self employed person with a pre existing condition. Diabetic since age 14. Presently I am covered by a Wisconsin high risk pool (HIRSP) at a rate of $427.00 per month with a fairly decent prescription plan and a $5000.00 year deductible. This ceases to exist on 12/31/2913. Under Obama care a similar plan with a $4500.00 deductible and higher co pays on everything. I cannot afford it.

Marisa, California:

Here is my sad story. 🙁 I have had Blue Shield for the last 3 years. Never missed a payment, only go to the doctor once maybe twice a year. Never have prescriptions. Perfectly happy with my insurance life. Then ObamaCare came into effect…Now my insurance company has dumped me as of January 2014. The only other insurance that is offered to me is Covered California. So I called them and for WORSE insurance coverage, my monthly payment is going to go from $149 to $283!!! For just me!! A healthy 31 year old!!!! So forget it, I am going to go on Medi-Share.

Jill, Texas:

I am a stay at home Mommy of 3 babies. My Husband’s insurance that he has through his job covers our whole family, and it USED to be affordable. A couple weeks ago, they called a meeting at his job to let them know that we “will not be affected by Obamacare” and “will get to keep your existing insurance plan”. Yet our deductibles went from $700 to $2,500… “In order to meet the new federal regulations”, essentially making every doctor’s visit or medical issue an out-of-pocket expense. So we have affordable Healthcare coverage, it just doesn’t cover us.

Destiny, Oregon:

We’ve had benefits through my husband’s employer (Wells Fargo) for the eight years we’ve been married. We’ve had two kids during that time, one under Bush’s presidency, one under Obama’s (this last April). The first baby cost us $200 in medical bills. The second baby cost us $8,000. Yep. Eight thousand dollars. In the last three years we have seen our deductible raise significantly (it’s now at $6,000) and our premiums raise just as much. About $400 is taken out of my husband’s check every two weeks, and we have to have six thousand dollars in medical bills before they pay for anything. It never used to be that way. When we got married, our deductible was $300 per person.

Susan, Colorado:

As a 40 year old diabetic, I’ve already been given my death panel details. After I spend $2500 on diabetic supplies, which usually occurs in the 1st quarter of the year, the death panel gets to decide whether I continue to live or whether I die a slow agonizing death.

I’ve lived in Australia under their socialist healthcare and while paying a huge tax (a 12 pack of coke is $35), this doesn’t include the income tax they pay. Then they pay $120 for a doc visit, and then they are reimbursed by the govt about 1/2.

I’d still rather deal with an insurance company than have to deal with the govt!

Katie, no state given:

Our insurance premiums more than doubled and we could no longer afford to have me on it. I found out I ws pregnant shortly after we had to drop my coverage, leaving me uninsured.

Paula, no state given:

I am a stay at home mom on a tight budget. My insurance is going up by 197%. How on earth is this “affordable”?

Gayle, Virginia:

I am an adjunct instructor at a community college in Virginia. As a
result of Obamacare, the Virginia Community College System decided to
limit all adjuncts to 9 credit hours of teaching per semester in the
fall and spring and 6 hours in the summer. I used to teach 15 credit
hours per semester until this policy kicked in last semester. As I
like to tell people, Obamacare forced the college to cut my hours in
order to avoid having to provide me with insurance that I neither want
nor need. Incidentally, I am the only adjunct at my college who is
certified to teach the courses that I teach, which means the college
is unable to offer the two additional courses that I would have been
teaching. I’m screwed. The college is screwed. The students who needed
those courses are screwed.

Lindsay, Texas:

Our government and their ridiculous views have screwed me. I was laid off this past April from the mortgage company I worked for. I filed for unemployment and then became sick with serious heart and intestinal issues and am currently in need of an arterial bypass on my Superior Mesenteric Artery and an intestinal reroute and bypass to avoid any further issues. Unfortunately, until I’m right on “Deaths Door”, I can’t have it done because as a single mom, I can’t afford what will be probably a $250k surgery.

See, in Texas, you don’t qualify for Medicaid if you make more than $251/mo for a family of 3. That said, I had to apply for Obamacare. Imagine my surprise when I was informed that I don’t make enough to qualify for Obamacare and they referred me to apply for Medicaid.

So now, I’m here. Waiting for what will eventually kill me because I fall in between and don’t qualify for either option. I’m the poster child for who Obama said he was helping. The single mom who is struggling to get by. I continue to make my mortgage, buy groceries and pay utilities. My father helps me with my prescriptions for now but he’s on disability and can’t help much. I’ve called the Governors office to speak with an Aide or Chief of Staff, yet funny how nobody can return a phone call. Ever.

Sandy, North Carolina:

I teach at a community college in NC. Because of Obamacare, all of the part time instructors’ hours were cut by 50% so the college wouldn’t have to offer health insurance to us. O-care says that prep time and time for grading papers must be factored in even though we do not get paid for that. So those of us that were teaching 20 hours got bumped up to over 30 hours because of that, which meant that the college wpuld have to offer benefits. So, of course, they cut our hours in half. And there is no waiver or opt-out provision. I, along with others, do not need their benefits. I have health insurance from another source. People are leaving the teaching profession to get fulltime jobs elsewhere. It’s a shame. I am so angry at Congress for voting for this disaster and also at the media for distorting the facts about the UN-Affordable Health Care Act. What a misnomer that is. I wish a reporter would ask me how it has affected me and my friends. I’d give them an earfull.

Janene, Oregon:

My husband is a self employed contractor and I work part time as an orthodontic assistant. Obamacare has been hurting our family since they first passed it. We provide our own health insurance and when it passed our insurance company raised our rates (almost doubled) with less coverage. So I shopped around and found a cheaper and better plan for about $150 more than what we were paying. Our insurance is now costing about $520 a month for our family of four with a $5000 deductible per person. I liked this plan though cause the doctor visits were covered and just tests, labs, etc had to have deductible met before they paid. The preventative visits were covered in full and immunizations too. A few weeks ago I got our renewal for January 2014, our insurance rates are doubling again with less coverage. Now our monthly payment (after providing dental and vision for my children) is about $1000.00 a month. Now we get 4 doctor visits covered a year, but our new deductible is $6250.00 a person. None of us have ever met our $5000 deductible except when I had our second daughter. Preventative is covered and vision is covered for kids. I have to provide dental insurance for children now too- which costs more than the 2 cleanings and exams that I pay cash for now. I basically work part time to help pay for our health expenses, but if I worked a full time job I would be working and gone from children more just to pay for their daycare. It is important to us to raise our children ourselves and not by other people. My husband and I are finally getting back on our feet from the big market crash and now we are faced with $1000/ month for healthcare. It is ridiculous that I am expected to pay $1000 while others get health coverage for free. Our family has pride in what we do and we do not want the government’s help. We live in an entitlement community. Most people don’t work, collect welfare or disability, get food stamps, and are on our state health program. We could have applied for all of these in the past, but we will always find a way to live on our own. If the government would take everyone’s entitlements away no one would die- they would be forced to find a way to live!!

Alicia, Florida:

Obamacare is not affordable. Our Govt credits are $425 a month. Full premiums range from $900-$1400 a month before the govt credits. The $900 plan has a deductible of $6250/$12,500 and then 60/40%. The $1400 plan has no deductible with a 90/10%.

I can’t afford to pay the lower premium because the outrageous deductible would keep me from being able to afford to actually go to the doctor.

I can’t afford to pay the higher premium, period.

Christine, no state given:

The company my husband works for started in the 1970’s– and by one guy out of his garage. Text book story. Now it is one of the largest small business in our town, and employs around 200 people or so? Long story short, it used to be that after 5 years of employment with the company, all dependents under the employee are completely covered through the company and pay no monthly premium, AND receive money in a health savings account. We JUST hit 5 years this September, but thanks to Obamacare, his company can no longer offer that same benefit. We get a discounted premium, which sure…is better than it was, but I was really banking on saving that entire amount. There were employees who have worked there for over 20 years that now have to PAY their dependents’ premium that have not done so for years. Lest we also not forget the individuals who have been let go in order for them to be able to afford our now crappier health care plans. There are no words.

Abby, Kentucky:

Weren’t we all told, multiple times, that if we had health insurance we liked, we could keep it? Continue to go to our doctors, yada yada? Yeah, I thought so. Here is the introductory paragraph from the letter I just received from my health insurance carrier, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield:

“Dear (insert my name here):

Thank you for choosing Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield for your
individual health coverage. Changes from health care reform (also called
the Affordable Care Act, or ACA) continue to take effect in 2014. To meet
the requirements of the new laws, your current plan will no longer be
offered. But you have options and you can count on us to provide you with
a plan that’s right for you.”

I currently pay $407.70 PER MONTH on an individual plan for the privilege of having health insurance. My deductible is $7,000.00. I had the misfortune of a cancer diagnosis in 2004. According to Anthem, I have
been in their highest “tier” since then and will be until 15 years past my last cancer treatment. My family has had to steadily increase my deductible each year to even be able to afford the insurance as premiums rise every year. So, I currently pay almost $5000 annually for insurance which is essentially useless because the deductible is so high. I am insured for the catastrophic and that is about it.

Anthem’s “plan that’s right” for me is to increase my premium to $432.69
per month and my deductible will now be – wait for it- $12,600.00 per year. $12,600.00!!!!!!! But it gets better. My insurance agent called me and strongly suggested I join the Kentucky Health Co-Op. Told me I don’t want to stay with Anthem. That the Co-Op will have better rates for me. When I countered by saying that I don’t want anything to do with the Co-Op, even if it costs me more to stay with Anthem, he informed me that as of December 1, 2014, Anthem will no longer provide nationwide coverage. Their coverage will only be INSIDE the state of Kentucky. All of my surgeons and oncologists are in Nashville, Tennessee, at Vanderbilt. Yeah for me!!!

He went on to inform me that at this point, Humana (another insurance carrier in Kentucky) doesn’t even have all their licensing in order to move forward under the ACA, but from what he is seeing, they will not even be competitive with their rates. Who knows if they’ll even stay licensed in Kentucky so there’s a company probably off/out of the market.

When I queried my agent about the Kentucky Health Co-Op’s provider network, or what happens if the whole Obamacare thing gets repealed and you’re with the Co-Op, he said nobody has the answers to any of that. He said, and I quote, “Basically what you’ve got is a bunch of people that have been given a whole lot of government money to start this co-op and nobody knows anything about them.” Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?!! Can’t wait to entrust my health to them……

…So, contrary to what Mr. Obama promised me, I can not keep my current health insurance plan because it will no longer be offered. I CAN stay with my current health insurance carrier if I: 1)pay more money; 2)have a $12,600 annual deductible; AND 3)no longer see my doctors of choice after
next year.

Or, I can go with a company funded by the government that no one knows anything about. And I have about 20 days to make my decision. Sure hope that damn website is fixed by then………

Sarah, California:

Right now we pay close to 900.00 for individual healthcare in the state of CA. My husband is a business owner and investor. I’m a PROUD stay at home mommy. I’m currently (newly) pregnant and I have PPO insurance. My deductible is 5000 for me and 5000 for my daughter. My daughter was born with a heart defect called a VSD and she sees a cardiologist often. We received the ” renewal” and it will go up to 1300 premium for all 3 of. I have to stay on the 5000 PPO because there are only 2 Ins companies in the state if CA that offer PPO’s for individual healthcare plus MATERNITY which is Blue cross and blue shield unless I switch to an HMO which I refuse to because of my daughters’ condition and I had a difficult pregnancy. I don’t want ANYONE to tell me which doctors I can see etc. This year in June I miscarried and met my deductible. And now I’m pregnant again and will have to pay 5000 next year as well to have my baby. I’ve tried to use the website only to have it crash on me 5 times!! And the time I did get it to work my premium will go up 300!!!! We live on a budget like everyone else and this is groceries in our house and diapers on my baby. It’s a lot! This OBAMACARE IS THE STUPIDEST idea yet and thousands of business owners will be affected and already have!!! I did not vote for this and because other people can’t afford healthcare other people that do suffer!! It’s not fair!!!

Patti, no state given:

My family with sick kids is being destroyed by Obamacare. I made a video in August explaining how. At the time we were at 19k in OOP medical and are currently at just under 23k in OOP medical billed. We still have a surgery next month, too. 17 years of chronic illness, and this is our worse year financially, though not our worst medically.

Where we used to pay 4-5k in medication copays for their meds from 2005-2010, we are on track to pay 10k this year. We’ve paid out over $7,000 and still have 2 1/2 months to go. Our insurance has paid almost $300,000 for those meds. By the end of this month it will reach $320k. When you add in what insurance has paid in medical, it’s some $340k, so we have good insurance.

We received a letter several months ago from my husband’s employer stating that their health plan costs will increase $7.4 million in 2014. I have pictures of the letter on my blog. Www.carholicteapartyhippie.blogspot.com

A medication protecting my son’s kidneys from damage had a copay of $131 for 5 yrs prior to the passing of Obamacare. The copay skyrocketed to $532 since the law passed. I have pictures of invoices on my blog.

From 2005-2010, we had very little cost increases. In 2014, premiums will have increased $3066 since Obamacare passed. Luckily, the employer pays about half, but raises aren’t being given. I suppose paying increased premiums is our raise.

From 2005-2010, our deductible increase $50 ($10/yr). Since the law passed, it has increased $1,200 ($400/yr). From 2005-2010, our out of pocket max increased $500 ($100/yr). Since Obamacare, our out of pocket max increased $3000 ($1000/yr)

A copay for a blood product my son infuses weekly has increased 100% where it had stayed the same for 5 years prior to the law.

The drop in flex spending from 5K to $2,500 harms my family. We used the tax savings to pay for other medical bills. We’d already racked up $2,500 in OOP medical by Jan 19 of this year.

The medical device tax. Our insurance now pays more for the catheters my son uses every 4 hours, the pumps we use for infusion and for all the medical supplies sent to use by home health. The tax is passed on from the manufacturer to the home health to the insurance and then to is by way of higher premiums, copays, deductibles and OOP Maxes.

Before Obamacare, we had an 85/15 plan. Last year it was dropped to an 80/20 plan. So we now pay more out of pocket!

Our local hospital posted a 51 million dollar loss because of having to implement Obamacare. They laid off 950 people and have frozen raises. We’ve noticed a decline in the quality of care. Doctors who would never talk about politics are now telling us it’s the worst it’s ever been, that they are miserable and it is collapsing. Nurses aren’t happy. They are overworked because they are rotating lay offs. Just what every patient wants. Healthcare providers who are unhappy.

Sunny, no state given:

I am on Medicare Advantage Plan. Aetna, HMO is my carrier. If I were to have gotten sick in 2013 my out of pocket expenses would be $3400. Those out of pocket expenses should I be hospitalized and also need nursing home care, will be $6700 for the coming year 2014.

Dawna, Oregon:

Just before ACA came about, my self employed husband had been looking into leasing another truck (or several more trucks), hiring some drivers, and expanding our business. As soon as they passed the ACA we had to decide against it–there was just no way to predict what it was going to cost us, and what the profit margin might be, and whether it would be worth the additional risk with the new insurance laws. Each time they tacked on something new to the ACA we would get another letter from our insurance company informing us that the premiums were going up. over the past 7 years they have almost doubled , from 256/month pre-ACA to 449 currently. Our current insurance plan is no longer offered because it does not comply with Obamacare (we had a high deductible plan with a health savings account). We looked into how much insurance will cost after the first of january and we have Moda (formerly ods) and they are still the least expensive option after looking at the Oregon insurance exchange, however our premium will go UP $123/month AND our deductible more than doubles to $10,500 instead of 5k AND our out of pocket max increases from 9k to 12k approximately; so, that is an additional $1500 or so premium per year for half as much coverage. Oh, and there’s a subsidy available which would cover the premium, which would be great if we WANTED to be FORCED to go on WELFARE, and even though the subsidy would cover the premiums it does not even begin to cover the additional $5,500 worth of deductible we need to come up with for our family of 8–and that also does not take into account how much harder my husband has had to work to bring in less money than we were making before.

My husband and I have 3 children, 2 attending college. We have private insurance through Blue Shield and our premiums will be going from $400 to over $1200. I just checked what Covered California (ACA) is offering and out premiums would be over $1400. My husband is retired and on a fixed income. I work part-time. We work our butts off for every penny we make and spend wisely and take care of our health. I’m angry that we are forced to pay for others who have taken a different path than us and for whatever reason are poorer and unhealthy. I’m not unwilling to help others but to pay 4 times more(according to the examples on the ACA web site) is just wrong. We do not qualify at this time for any monthly tax credit on ACA. We are seriously trying to decide if I should quit my job to qualify for the discount or keep on working to pay the extra cost just to keep away from ACA for as long as we can.

Holly, Arizona:

My husband was an independent contractor and for the past few years we’ve purchased a wonderful health insurance policy through Humana. For $350 per month we had a $5,000 family deductible in case of catastrophic illness and chose to pay $100 for urgent care out-of-pocket every once in a while (we are almost never ill). This plan suited our needs and budget fantastically. The letter came in the mail October 1 from Humana; our plan will no longer be offered because of Obamacare.

I have still been unable to register to see exactly what Obamacare would cost us despite trying to log on at all hours of the day and night, but a reliable government-sponsored cost estimator put the least expensive plan for our family at $1,200 per month with a deductible twice as high as the Humana plan. Though our income ($92K) puts subsidies firmly out of reach for our family of six, I can assure you that we don’t have $850 dollars at the end of the month to spend on WORSE health care coverage than we have. On top of a high tax burden, we have ridiculous student loan payments (stupid to borrow in hindsight but without the MBA we wouldn’t have the job). We don’t have cable, we have a smaller food budget than food stamp recipients (we eat quite well, by the way), drive old beater cars, and are firmly lower middle class. I have 4 kids 6 and under. I could enter the workforce but my salary would never equal let alone surpass the cost of child care (not to mention the fact that we worked hard to obtain an income that we assumed would support having me stay home with the kids, until inflation and taxes made our income shrink). We have no way to make that $850 come out of the woodwork.

We are unwilling to be uninsured and pay the penalty, so we talked about bankruptcy or leaving our lovely home for an apartment. Alternatively, through the grace of God my husband was able to find a new job with a company that offers great benefits (our costs will go to $750 per month but it will be considered a Cadillac plan). He starts tomorrow.

The worst part of this scenario is not that we can no longer control our destiny by choosing to purchase just the coverage we need at an agreeable cost. It is not that my husband literally quit a great job because Obamacare created impending financial doom for our family. No, the worst part is that this scenario is being repeated in the homes of contractors and small business owners across America. We’re lucky–my husband is a Senior Recruiting Manager and knows how to find jobs easily. What will happen to those who can’t?

Donald, Montana:

My rates for a family have jumped 15% this year before it was fully unveiled! no next year the provider for my employer is saying we won’t be covered at all by them in 2014, June. My employer is looking into options now, all of which are predicted to be a 20%+ jump yet again.

James, Ohio:

I’m a manager at a national convenience store chain. My company has restricted all part time and new hires to under 30 hours a week, and even made it part of the management team’s bonus plan. Fortunately, they are not requiring the demotion of current full time employees (yet), however, if we lose a full time employee, we are required to basically hire two part time workers to replace them. Yes, we are hiring more due to this. But it is all part time workers. The only people who are eligible to move to full time are promoted assistant managers and store managers.

It seems to me the ACA is designed to force people to work multiple jobs, then use one of those jobs to pay for their own healthcare?

In addition, my insurance plan currently costs about $120 a month. I just learned that my new insurance plan, starting next year, will cost me about $330 a month, with higher deductibles. This effectively means that instead of paying 4.6% of my wages for insurance, I will now be paying 13% for worse coverage. This amounts to me taking home about $50 less a week.

I’m still trying to figure out how the first letter of the acronym ACA is “A” for Affordable. It should be “R” for Robbery.

Bev, Washington:

We just found out that according to the ACA law, that the spouse and children of the employee are not eligible for any tax credits or subsidies, even though we have the income to be eligible. Reason being, the law states that the employer only need offer coverage for the individual at 9.5% of income – this doesn’t include family coverage. Since my husband’s employer offers him individual insurance at 9.5% or less, we are disqualified from entering the exchange and getting tax credits. The family coverage will be at 11% of our income and doesn’t matter how high it gets, we have to either pay it or go without insurance.

Emily, Arizona:

My insurance is currently approx. $600/mo. for me and my three children. We have insurance through my work and sometimes I feel like I work just to provide that benefit to my family. I only make $1000 per month. So, after paying insurance and taxes, I don’t take home much. I got a notice a few weeks ago that my current insurance does not meet ACA standards and will be cancelled on the renewal date. For me to get similar coverage to what I currently have, I will be paying $1150/mo. thanks to Obamacare. I will now be going to work solely to pay for my health care and even then I don’t make enough.

Our children are 2, 3 & 4 and we had made a decision for me to only work part time until they are in school because we felt it was important to be the ones teaching them as they grow up. At this point, we aren’t sure what we are going to do. We are looking into me going to work full time, but full time day care for 3 toddlers isn’t cheap. We are still considering all our options and trying to figure out what would be best. I don’t know who the ACA is helping, but it is certainly not helping my family.

Amanda, Texas:

My husband works in medicine, and is a master’s-degreed specialist. He’s been in his field of work for ten years now, and has worked in medicine for a total of 25 years. Until two years ago, he has always been a hospital employee, with full salary and benefits and medical coverage. We moved to be closer to family, and for the first time he was hired as an “independent contractor” rather than as a hospital employee. The group hiring him cited the “coming changes in medicine” as the reason they would no longer be hiring folks like him as hospital employees. Now we pay our own payroll taxes, and buy our own healthcare out of pocket, and have no employer contribution to retirement, so it’s the equivalent to a 25% pay cut. Of course, many self-employed folks face this scenario, but they at least enjoy the benefits of working for themselves and calling their own shots and potentially reaping the profits, whereas my husband does the same work, reports to the same people and, pulls the same hours, with much less to show for it. In the past two years, he has witnessed many changes such as these within the healthcare industry and firmly believes it is fundamentally changing to accommodate the new dynamic of Obamacare. Our healthcare insurance premiums have increased twice over the last six months, and this was before Obamacare even went into effect. We paid very high premiums, had incredibly high deductibles that ensured that all of our office visits were also out of pocket, and expected to pay substantially more for the privilege next year. So for now, we have dropped out of the fray and into a medical sharing arrangement, which saves us some cash and for the time being, exempts us from the requirement to purchase insurance.

My father worked for the same manufacturing company for 34 years. During that time, he worked his way up from an entry level lineman to managing the entire plant and was only ten years away from retirement. The Great Recession decimated their construction dependent business and over time they reduced their workforce from several hundred to a skeleton crew of a few dozen. The company was holding on for dear life, with the hopes of weathering the challenging times and rebuilding as the economy improved. But when Obama was reelected, and all hope of the repeal of Obamacare vanished, it was the final straw and the plant closed. To be clear, the owners specifically cited Obamacare as the reason they were closing up shop for good. My father was fortunate to find new employment, but at half his previous salary, in a new state, and with a company that does not offer any medical benefits. He rents out his mortgaged home in his previous home state because he is underwater on the home and cannot sell, so was forced to cash out his retirement to buy a smaller home in the new locale. He works more hours, for less pay, has no prospect of retiring anytime soon if at all, and after enjoying good health and good insurance for most of his life, faces his later years and the potential for increased health problems with no medical insurance at all.

Rachael, Alaska.

My husband works for the teamsters union. They take $6 off his check for every hour he works to put in the welfare trust. It equals to about $900 a month. It was covering my husband, myself and our two children. Now since Obamacare the structure has changed and they can no longer cover use all. Our choice was to cover my husband and I or my husband and the children. I am no longer covered unless I choose to pay an additional $800 that we cannot afford. If we chose to cover me we would be paying basically $1700 a month for health insurance. Even if we choose to drop this plan and search for more affordable care we would still be loosing the $900 until next year when contract negotiations would take place. This is the case with more than 70% of their work force because most of the families’ wives don’t work or work where insurance isn’t offered. I hope all the union loyalists that pressured all of their employees to vote democratic are happy with what’s happened.

Rebecca, Oklahoma:

My delivery job is a 60-hour/week position (seasonally) for which I annually earn 40,000 evil dollars. After getting off work at 5:00 today, I will look for a secondary position to make up for the inflated cost of my healthcare under this law. I am exhausted, but an audiobook I read recently suggested that I do what is important to me before the day starts. That’s why I wrote this e-mail at 4:00am.

Joanna, no state given:

I am a RN. Obama care is costing my hospital so much that we have had to rearrange the staffing grid to a point that I feel it is dangerous to do my job. Also, my take home pay after taxes and insurance for my family is less than 50 percent. This year I am forced to drop dental and vision because the health insurance alone is $800.00 a month. My husbands company refuses to insure me because I have access to insurance at my employment; a new change brought on by the new legislation. My company will insure him for an additional 200.00/mo above the family premium. This means we have two sets of family deductibles and two max out of pockets to meet. My family will forgo vision coverage because I now pay a monthly Obama tax of $5.25 per insured body each month; $26.25/ mo for me. I was under the impression that Obama Care was supposed to increase access to insurance. It has done precisely the opposite for this hard working, two income, middle class family!

Jane, Ohio:

Insurance going up $500 next year. That’s already after going up the previous year and a $5000 deductible. Grateful that my husband has a job with benefits, but as we we have 4 kids, with 2 in college, we budget our money (unlike the government.) That $500 will be discretionary money that we don’t spend next year – travel, dinners out, etc.

Linda, Delaware:

I run a small business that has suffered ever since this administration has taken over. I am a sole proprietor with no employees. I do not have health insurance nor plan on having it. I take care of my health holistically and am happy to do so. Now I will have to pay a substantial fine which will only grow over the years because I choose not to have health insurance. The socialist policies of this administration are destroying this nation.

Gail, Missouri:

Recently hired as a substitute teacher in our local school district. First day of work I was handed a letter from the superintendent: “Due to the Affordable Care Act substitutes will no longer be able to work more than 4 days a week…”. My son teaches in this school district. He says this not only affects the substitutes but the teachers AND most importantly, students since no teacher needing a long term sub will be able to get consistency for their students.

Deedie, Kentucky:

Although I have not and will not signup for obamacare, my health insurance rates are going up over $200/month. My plan is no longer available and my deductible will be raised from $5,000 to $8,000.

Joe, Pennsylvania:

I own a small insurance brokerage in Exton, PA (couple miles south of Valley Forge). We employe 10 very good people. Before the Affordable Healthcare act was passed, the cost of health insurance for our staff was the third highest expense in our budget. Now, if I was a heartless yet savvy business owner, I would force those 10 employees on to the new Obama care. I could reduce my expenses significantly! However, knowing a little something about insurance (33 years in this biz) I would never subject my valued employees to that fate. But I can tell you that many of the small guys I insure are considering doing it because they need to cut costs in this poor economic environment.

This isn’t a gripe about me losing commission. (Although, the way the plan is sold through “navigators” and NOT fully licensed insurance professionals gives me pause.). We haven’t sold much health insurance over the years because it’s become a no win proposition. Expensive for my clients due to dwindling availability and reduced compensation as the insurance carriers are trying to make a profit.

This is a bad situation which is going to get much worse with rising costs to consumers and deteriorating service from the government.

One last note. The Feds have a poor track record when it comes to universal insurance coverage (think National Flood insurance), just ask the people that are STILL waiting to be paid from the effects of hurricanes Katrina, Irene and Sandy. Why do we think they will do a better job in serving our needs as regards to serious illness and disease?

Janis, Texas:

My daughter and I are currently on COBRA through my ex-husband’s electrical workers union. Under Obamacare, my premiums will actually go DOWN (from $895 to $544 per month), but my deductible will increase from $400 to $6,000 per person! Since we are both relatively healthy, I will be paying $544 per month for “coverage,” while also paying ALL of my medical expenses, unless we have a catastrophic injury or illness. Sucks.

Cody, Illinois:

It wasn’t until I read your post yesterday that I realized what has been going on with my scheduling system at work. It was “updated” recently with a new feature that alerts me and tries to stop me from scheduling part-time employees more than 31 hours. Now some of these employees want more than 31 hours, sometimes I need additional coverage, etc. This past week I scheduled a part-timer for 32+ and found out the day of his shift that the system deleted his shift because he had “too many” hours so he didn’t show up that day. I double checked to make sure he didn’t just miss his shift but sure enough when I checked the scheduler it was in red as deleted. This is affecting my ability to have people to help my customers as well as affecting the employees who want or need 31+ that are not full-time. Most are part-time for school reasons and many have health insurance with their parents still so they don’t need health insurance from our company at this point. We also received a huge cut in the amount of hours we have to spend on employees which I’m assuming is to try and prevent us from giving extra labor to part-timers. Obamacare makes me sick!

Susan, Texas:

I work at one of our many public schools here in Texas. I am not a teacher but also not an administrator so I make very paltry wage. Because of Obama’s Affordable Healthcare Act my insurance went UP over $100 this year. In response, I had to go to a different plan with a higher deductible and less coverage. BUT, before I did this I wanted to get my “free” preventative testing done. What the insurance companies don’t tell you is that it is only free if they don’t find anything. In my case it was a colonoscopy and I was told by my doctor that since I was 50 years old I needed to have this done. “But don’t worry,” he said “it will be covered under preventative care.” Then the bills started rolling in because my test didn’t come back “perfect”. That was their word, not mine. Long story short, this “free” preventative care cost me nearly $2,00

Jaron, Pennsylvania:

Back before ACA, my entire family was covered under my employers group plan at no cost to me. Keep in mind that when I say no cost, I mean 100% coverage on everything with nothing coming out of my paycheck and no co-payment for anything covered. We basically had the Cadillac of insurance plans at the time! Once ACA was passed, the cost of our insurance went up 30-35% a year for my employer. By 2012, my employer only offered a high-copay plan and only paid 80% of my cost while leaving the last 20% and the cost of covering my family up to me. This “affordable” insurance plan cost me just over $1200/mth on our group plan (and we’re in our 20s with perfect health!)! To complicate matters, we were expecting our 2nd child when this change went into affect (our only “pre-existing” condition at the time) and therefore couldn’t switch off to our own plan till mid-2013. Today, I can no longer get any health care through my employer. Instead, I had to buy my own individual, high-deductible plan that still runs almost $500/mth (despite us being young and in near-perfect health). AND we just found out that our current plan is expected to go up in cost come 2014 and then cease to exist after 2014 thanks to ACA.

Laura, Louisiana:

My husband has worked for a major retailer, Barnes and Noble, for years now. Recently, the company announced that ALL full-time positions were being cut other than those held by management. The threshold for full-time to part-time was then further reduced to 20 hours. Employees are now dropping like flies, unable to pay their bills, and forced to leave for greener pastures. They are having to cobble together a livelihood based on part-time jobs. Within the store itself, business is suffering due to the lack of knowledgeable staff who have a sense of ownership in their positions. Between this blow to good customer service and the continued swell of electronic media, I wouldn’t be surprised to see B&N follow the likes of Borders and simply close up shop

Laura, Utah:

My husband and I just moved into an apartment. We had been living with his parents for a while because we couldn’t afford to support ourselves. As we were planning to move in, we very carefully budgeted everything for the next year to make sure we could do it. We will be barely scraping by. Now we learned that our insurance costs will be going up in January. I don’t know by how much, but if it’s significant, then we won’t be able to afford groceries. Now we’re in a contract with the apartments that we can’t afford to break, but we might not be able to feed ourselves unless one of us gets another job. I don’t even want to think how this will affect us when we decide to start our family.

Tom and Anne Marie, Nebraska:

How many times did President Obama say, “If you like your plan you can keep it.” Lie. We got a letter stating that due to the Affordable Care Act, our insurance company can no longer offer our plan. The closest thing they can offer to the plan we had increases the cost of health insurance (premiums) and healthcare (out of pocket) for our family by $10,027.28 over the $13,295 we paid in 2013. And that does not even include orthodontics and glasses/contacts which cost our family around $2,500 per year. And how many times did we hear, “You can keep your doctor.” Well, technically, but it’s going to cost us an extra $3000 to keep our family physician, my OB and our choice of hospital. There is no Catholic hospital on the list of preferred facilities we got from our insurance company. Coincidence? Probably not. In a nutshell: We can’t keep our plan. We are paying more ($10,026.28 – 75% more) to get less, and to keep our doctors will cost us $3000. We are contemplating going without insurance altogether. I am expecting a baby in April, and I am seriously considering skipping the recovery room because we can’t afford it. How does this improve healthcare?

My 14 year old son has a life threatening milk allergy. He must have 2 EpiPens available where ever he is, or a total of 6 EpiPens. We have two at home, one in the nurses office at school and he wears one on a belt every day to school, and we have two in a “medicine bag” at home that he takes with him whenever he leaves the house (other than school).

Up until last year, his EpiPens cost us $25 for a twin pack to refill. So we were spending on average $75 – $100 a year on his life saving medication. As soon as it became mandated that employers pick up the cost of birth control (which is I believe a portion of Obamacare that went into effect last August), my husband’s employer reconfigured their prescription tiers. Because, although birth control pills (which are a CHOICE) are free to consumers now, they are not free. The shift in prescription drug tiers included moving my son’s LIFE SAVING medication, which is not a CHOICE, to a different tier and we began paying nearly $70 for each refill.

This past year, my husband got a new job with different insurance. Our new prescription plan is even worse for my son’s life saving medication. We now pay $100 for every twin pack. We will now spend $300 – $400 per year in refills for his LIFE SAVING medication.

Prescription birth control is a choice. There are so many other options out there for women (and men) who want to prevent pregnancy. My son has no other options. He must have 2 Epinephrine auto injectors available at all times should he go into anaphylactic shock because of his allergy. I do not blame the corporations that my husband works for. They needed to shift medications, making some more expensive, so that they could take on the burden of paying for birth control. This mandate for free birth control for all came with a cost. Thankfully, we can afford the medication. We shifted our own priorities and can handle the additional cost.

What about the family that cannot? Will their child go without life saving medication? All so someone else can prevent pregnancy for free.

Elizabeth, Maryland:

My 14 year old son has a life threatening milk allergy. He must have 2 EpiPens available where ever he is, or a total of 6 EpiPens. We have two at home, one in the nurses office at school and he wears one on a belt every day to school, and we have two in a “medicine bag” at home that he takes with him whenever he leaves the house (other than school).

Up until last year, his EpiPens cost us $25 for a twin pack to refill. So we were spending on average $75 – $100 a year on his life saving medication. As soon as it became mandated that employers pick up the cost of birth control (which is I believe a portion of Obamacare that went into effect last August), my husband’s employer reconfigured their prescription tiers. Because, although birth control pills (which are a CHOICE) are free to consumers now, they are not free. The shift in prescription drug tiers included moving my son’s LIFE SAVING medication, which is not a CHOICE, to a different tier and we began paying nearly $70 for each refill.

This past year, my husband got a new job with different insurance. Our new prescription plan is even worse for my son’s life saving medication. We now pay $100 for every twin pack. We will now spend $300 – $400 per year in refills for his LIFE SAVING medication.

Prescription birth control is a choice. There are so many other options out there for women (and men) who want to prevent pregnancy. My son has no other options. He must have 2 Epinephrine auto injectors available at all times should he go into anaphylactic shock because of his allergy. I do not blame the corporations that my husband works for. They needed to shift medications, making some more expensive, so that they could take on the burden of paying for birth control. This mandate for free birth control for all came with a cost. Thankfully, we can afford the medication. We shifted our own priorities and can handle the additional cost.

What about the family that cannot? Will their child go without life saving medication? All so someone else can prevent pregnancy for free.

April, Nebraska:

OMG I cant take dumb ass people anymore. Heres Obamacare 101: Anyone who has a decrease in premiums is because mine & a whole lot of others have had their premiums more than double! Why because the young & healthy have to foot the bill for the old, sick, & the poor! AND A DAMN SUBSIDY HAS TO BE FUNDED BY SOMEONE WANNA GUESS WHO THAT IS GENIUS……ME & THE REST WHO HAVE TO PAY OUT THE F’ING AS…S!!!!! I GO TO WORK FOR MY MONEY & IM BEYOND F’ING BOILING POINT THAT I HAVE TO PAY OUT THE GOD DAMN ASS FOR OTHER PEOPLE!!! So, my $375/mo premium-$7000 ded turned into a $780/mo premium-$8000 ded or I can go on the exchange and pay $712/mo for a who f’n knows what kind of coverage & that is even after a WELFARE SUBSIDY! I did a little digging with all my research on this very sore subject to me & found the IRS can’t criminally prosecute me, can’t file a lien or levy on my personal property, if I fail to comply & pay the fine. All they can do is take my refund. Well its real hard to take a refund when I claim a butt load of deductions so I wouldnt expect a refund. $700/mo premiums is another mortgage payment & thats bull shit the government is forcing Americans to pay! My god what else are they going to take away from us! Open your eyes people or be a slave!

The Smith Family, no state given:

Not sure if this qualifies as “havoc” but our family is certainly feeling the “change”. Had my routine prescriptions refilled yesterday, the first time since all the excitement, and the price was DOUBLE! Not to mention the new adjustments we are still working through with our updated coverage and rising premiums and copays. As a working class family, we’re still waiting for the “benefits” to kick in and praying the cost will remain manageable for our family of 8…..living very conservatively on 1 modest income and without entitlement support I might add. It’s all sad and crazy for sure!

Rachelle, no state given:

My husband is the sole bread winner for our family and earns about $45k (pre-tax) as a counselor in the juvenile detention center. He just got his New insurance plan roll out for 2014 and it will cost us $10k for insurance next year. As expected, the middle class is the sector that is reaping the main burden of this affordable care.

Barbara, Illinois:

We are a self employed family. Our health insurance premiums are going up $3,000 per year beginning November 1st. They will become $10,000 per year plus a $5K deductible, and no prescription coverage – insurance companies took that out 2 years ago in anticipating having to cover pre-existing conditions b/c of Obamacare

My husband has had no new consulting gigs in 6 months. We are one of those families who make $200K per year. Apparently we aren’t paying our “fair share” despite giving a substantial amount of our income each year to charity. We can’t give anything to charity now.

Oh and I did I mention we have a chronically ill child? Yeah, that too.

Dave, New York:

Living in the Peoples’ Republic of New York, my family and I are used to paying high prices for insurance (and just about everything else, too) – but the ACA and the exchange system has made things markedy worse…

Previously, my wife, our infant son, and I were covered by her health care benefits; I’m a partner at an engineering firm, and don’t have an employer-sponsored option. When I visited the NY exchange web site to explore our options for 2014, two things immediately struck me:

1) None of the plans are HSA eligible, so if we do purchase our insurance through the exchange, the money we spend to meet the exorbitant deductibles will be after-tax dollars. So much for any hope of offsetting the higher premium costs with some paltry tax deductions…

2) None of the plans offer out-of-network coverage. In our region, we’ve always been faced with a duopoloy of health insurance companies – Blue Cross / Blue Sheld and MVP (formerly Preferred Care). One of the big supposed selling points for the exchange was the ability to buy insurance from more places (I call it “fabricated competition”), but since none of the insurers offer out-of-network coverage, we remain stuck with the same two we’ve always been stuck with.

All in all, the NY exchange took a bad situation (limited choice, high premiums and high deductibles) and made it worse (with even higher premiums and no more HSA eligibility, so fewer tax deductions).

Holly, no state given:

Earlier this year, in anticipation of the coming implementation of Obamacare, the insurance premium through my husband’s work plan was raised from just over $400 a month to over $600, which significantly affected our budget. This amount was the same even during the government furlough, when he was paid for four days a week instead of five, money we will never recuperate.

We just received a letter stating that starting in January 2014 our part of the premium will be $891.88, and the employer share (government) will be $948.18. This is for a family of three. If my husband was going to just cover himself, he would pay $334.82 and the employer part would be $426.14. These premiums vary widely with location; some places are far less expensive to cover.

I represent one one thousandth of small businesses around the country. Here’s my wake up to the nightmare that is Obamacare.

Currently, I pay $3,700 per month for my 10 employees. My anniversary for my policy is April. I pay 100% of their premium because I feel a moral obligation to provide it and am blessed to be able to.

My carrier sent me a letter saying that IF I changed my anniversary to this December (thus locking in coverage until December of ’14) then my monthly premium would only go up 10% to $4,070 per month.

HOWEVER, if I waited until April ’14 to renew, my new coverage would be $6,812.00 per month. That is an EIGHTY FOUR PERCENT increase. We do not have the profit margin ability to swallow this increase. Take a wild guess who will suffer in this equation. I’m grateful that many people believed our Liar in Chief when he said you could keep your coverage if you like it, keep your doctor If you liked him, and your premiums won’t go up.

Doug, Kentucky:

I represent one one thousandth of small businesses around the country. Here’s my wake up to the nightmare that is Obamacare.

Currently, I pay $3,700 per month for my 10 employees. My anniversary for my policy is April. I pay 100% of their premium because I feel a moral obligation to provide it and am blessed to be able to.

My carrier sent me a letter saying that IF I changed my anniversary to this December (thus locking in coverage until December of ’14) then my monthly premium would only go up 10% to $4,070 per month.

HOWEVER, if I waited until April ’14 to renew, my new coverage would be $6,812.00 per month. That is an EIGHTY FOUR PERCENT increase. We do not have the profit margin ability to swallow this increase. Take a wild guess who will suffer in this equation. I’m grateful that many people believed our Liar in Chief when he said you could keep your coverage if you like it, keep your doctor If you liked him, and your premiums won’t go up.

Jody, Georgia:

Our insurance rates have gone up 60% through my husband’s employer based insurance. Our deductibles have nearly doubled! We have a family of 5 with a 3 ½ y.o. in preschool and twin 1 y.o.’s. I’m sorry, I misspoke, our 3 ½ y.o. WAS in school until last week when we found out how much it will cost just to ensure our kids are insured. Now, we are are beginning the process of un-enrolling him 🙁 I have no idea how we are going to explain that to him. You can leave this part out, but our government is run by a bunch of self-serving asshats. The end.

Rachel, no state given:

Our insurance premiums will be tripling at the beginning of the year. I don’t know how we’ll afford it.

Liz, Nebraska:

Our out of pocket costs in 2013, premiums & deductible met with the birth of our third child, are $9700. In 2014, the comparable plan offered by BCBS Nebraska, our out of pocket would be $23000. That’s about 30% of our household gross income. More than our mortgage. Because we prefer to eat and pay our bills, we are REFUSING the Affordable Care Act and claiming exemption through Samaritan Ministries Christian health sharing. Our out of pocket next year will be about $4100.

Alicia, no state given:

Our family (2 adults, 3 small kids) is self-employed. Because insurance costs too much, we have been without insurance for three years. We’ve never failed to pay any bills, including trips to the ER,
regular immunizations and check ups, and the cost of having a baby. With no insurance, our medical costs are about $450 a month. Obamacare is going to cost us at least $800 a month–just for the
premiums. That doesn’t include the co-pay or the deductible. We can afford health care with no insurance. With Obamacare, we can’t possibly keep up.

Camilla, Utah:

The first mandates rolled in during our first pregnancy as a young married couple over three years ago. Suddenly our plan had to change for the small company we worked for, which meant rather than the expected $2800 we were to pay out of pocket that we had saved for, we were suddenly faced with no preventative, and a $5,000 dollar deductible straight up front. Because our daughter was born in January, we were faced with this deductible for the pregnancy, and then again the following year (January) for her birth. We ended up paying almost $7,000 out of pocket, which for young married people with one still in college, was a huge burden.

We no longer work for that company, but with the fortune 500 company we now work for with over 18,000 people on the payroll, we still have seen our premium double, and our deductible triple. The company we used to work for? Eventually had to put all their employees on healthcare to widen the pool (you get ‘free’ healthcare there) in order to get any federal jobs because of the requirements for contractors, but if you want your family on the plan? It will now cost almost $900 a month for a family of 4, with a $5,000 dollar deductible, then 80/20 till 10k. Before the mandates? $210 a month with a $2,000 dollar deductible. It is crippling the company financially to provide healthcare now, and families cannot afford it.

Chana, Minnesota:

My husband and I have two small children. We’re middle class and live paycheck to paycheck. We already pay $1,200 a month for our health insurance. Come January 2014, we’ll pay $1,250. Sure, it’s only $50, but this isn’t affordable health care for my family. We now pay more for our health insurance than our mortgage or childcare. We already struggle and now we get to struggle even more

Amber, Arkansas:

We were told our insurance was being cancelled at the end of 2014. Our policy no longer fits into the requirements for AFA. My husband is a pastor and has his business so we have an individual policy. Because of our income level we only qualify for Medicaid through the exchange. We do not want Medicaid. We have qualified for it for 4 years and have chosen to budget and live within our means to afford our own health coverage. We no longer have that option.

Debbie, no state given:

Due to cuts in Medicare to pay for Obamacare, my mother-in-law’s pain patch is no longer covered and now must take pain pills round the clock.

Dawn, California:

Our family’s insurance premium went up $600 a month, that means we pay $1,500 for a healthy family of 4.The only way to get out of it is for my husband to quite his job or wait until open enrollment a year from now. I may have to find a job as I have been a stay at home mom just so we can afford to pay for insurance from his job. Obama Care makes me sick is an understatement.

Lily, Texas:

My husband is an educator. He hasn’t had a raise in over 5 years. He finally received a raise this year, but the raise was to help offset the increased cost of health insurance premiums. Paying over $1000 a month for a family of 4, no copay, we must meet a deductible first. Since the school year has started, we have paid over $700 for 2 sick child visits, 1 xray and 1 ekg. My husband has tremendous shoulder pain but has been putting off going knowing that another huge bill is what we’ll end up with.

Steven, Kentucky:

I work for the Kentucky state government since 2004 and over the last three years I have seen the cost for our health insurance plans more than double, while the plans available to us keep getting worse, costing me more and more out of pocket. This year’s plans (2014) are the worst ones so far with the highest costs for plans that don’t even cover everything the plans from last year (2013) do.

My wife also work for Humana, and she has seen jobs outsourced to Manila in the past. This summer management announced that several of the jobs on her team will be outsourced to Manila. Over half of her team of 30 people have already either left, or found other jobs within the company. Even at half the staff, the management is expecting the same productivity of a full team. She is currently applying for another position within the company, which hopefully won’t be outsourced anytime soon.

Obamacare, raising costs and moving jobs overseas.

Tara, Illinois:

My family of 4 had insurance before Obamacare. Our monthly premium is now going up $250. If we want to keep paying our current monthly premium, our deductible would go up $5,000/person.

My husband also owns a small business. He insures his three employees at no cost to them. Their total premium is going up $350/month. He is now going to have to pass some of that increase on to his employees.

Scott and Brittany, Kentucky:

We are a young couple making less than 30,000 a year. We have 4 children. We have no debt, no cable, no cell phones, no car payments and a very tight budget. When Scott started working at BLANK (8 years ago) we paid $80.00 a month for good health care. Low deductible, low or no co-pays. Fast forward to today. We pay $200.00 a month for a high deductible insurance. That is $1,500 per person IN-NETWORK and $7,500 per family IN-NETWORK deductible.They pay NOTHING until we meet that. The only thing I do not have to pay for are well checkups. So I can take my kids to the Dr. for free when they are WELL to get their height and weight (something I can do at home) but if they are sick and NEED to go to the Dr. I have to pay $80.00 just for the office visit! I have FOUR children!!!!!! Heaven help us if they all catch step throat in the same month! And that doesn’t even include the medicine! AND (even better) our really expensive health insurance doesn’t even pay out at 100% after we meet the deductible! Thanks Obama!

Brock, Indiana:

My story is simple; the hospital system that I work for just laid off 900 employees on October 1st. I was blessed not to have been selected this time, but it is bittersweet, because many people who are dear to me and who are excellent workers are now unemployed.

Also, the hospital sustem is eliminating PPO and HMO healthcare options for all full-time employees including executives. They are going to only be offering HSA’s, and there is talk of them ending spousal coverage completely. They also notified us that they intend to lay off more every October for the next 5 years if attrition doesn’t reduce their numbers enough to meet their financial requirements.

It has been stated more or less that this is all due to the new healthcare law, not only the employer side of it, but also the fact that the government is going to be reimbursing hospitals less and less for their services despite top ranked performance.

Stacy, Minnesota:

My husband and I work for the same company and both of our premiums have gone up and our coverage is MUCH less. Thank you, Obama, for NOTHING. We are middle class and tired of getting screwed!!

D, Indiana:

We were forced out of health insurance because of the rising costs. We have had to rely on government insurance through Anthem for our children. Which feels like a huge lack of freedom- it feels like we signed our lives away- understandably, as people (unfortunately now including us) are getting something for nothing. They turned down my husband and me for insurance. We refuse to sign up for the horror that is Obamacare so now we face penalties for not signing up- so we’ll be paying for nothing, and will be forced to do so. We’re no longer free citizens.

Meghan, Delaware:

Was paying $308/month with $5k deductible for my husband and i. Now going to $758/month with $5k deductible, higher copays, fewer ‘covered services’ beginning Jan.1. My husband and i discussed it and we will just pay the penalty. We just barely get by every month as is, $450/month more is just out of the question.

Pam, Maryland:

My husband and I are self employed and have had health insurance with CareFirst for 15 yrs. Through the years with a lot of sacrifice and hard work we have become successful and live comfortably. We always considered insurance as something we needed for major illness, surgery, ect… So we have always had a higher deductible and co-pay. We received the attached letter telling us that we can no longer choose how we would like to be insured because Obama now gets to do that. When I called CareFirst I was told I was required to have coverage for things I don’t want and my deductible had to be lower. YOU CAN’T KEEP YOUR PLAN! I also get to pay 60 – 80% more, over the $669 I currently pay.

Kelly, Colorado:

Our insurance this past year has gotten a lot worse. Now prepping for this next year, we have found out we are paying $13 more EACH DAY!!! I am a SAHM, and my husband works.

There are a few things I need to get checked out with a specialist or OB, and my daughter needs to see an allergist so we can figure out her troubles as well as if she is asthmatic. We have an HRA, and can’t set the appointments up until next year because it’s just too expensive. Gone are the days of $20 co-pays under Bush.

What the hell are people thinking? There is no “free” healthcare…SOMEONE has to pay. WE are the SOMEONE’s… Obama Care does in fact make my family sick. LITERALLY.

Our insurance premiums have been 426. per month for the past six years, two adults. low deductible, the prescriptions for our blood pressure pills and my husbands acid reflux meds cost us ten dollars each time they are refilled. I have never been in the hospital except to have an emergency gall bladder surgery. I am a very healthy 60 year old who exercises daily.

Ron and Rebeka, Florida:

We got our letter from the insurance company this month saying our plan is no longer viable and we must choose other options, by January, both options tripled the current rate, the ten dollar co pay for the meds is gone, and the deductible is so high that I do not even understand what the purpose is of having any insurance at all. So if we want insurance our monthly payment goes to 1188. per month. for two people who work and keep all of our bills paid.

Linda, Ohio:

We are a lower/middle income family. It started well over a year ago when my husband’s company raised our rates and lowered our coverage in anticipation of “Obamacare”. They anticipated their costs for employee healthcare to go up significantly and passed that on to us. We now have a $6,000 deductible. Our monthly premium is so high that I don’t know how we are going to pay it, but the government is telling us we HAVE to, or pay a fine. Now that makes a whole lot of sense – we’ve raised the cost for a healthcare plan that covers less than your old plan, you can’t afford healthcare, so we are going to fine you for not having the money to pay for it. ???????? In addition, my husband received no wage increase for a promotion, no bonus, and no cost-of-living increase because of “these difficult economic times”. He was also required to take a week off with no pay. So, now we are living on less and our bills just went up. Simple math (which seems to escape you) – it doesn’t work!

Jennifer, Ohio:

My husband owns a small business in Cincinnati. It currently employs about 35 people. (Down from over sixty before this economic mess). The ACA has now made our insurance premiums go up and doubled our co-pays. I don’t even know what our new deductible is. I’m afraid to look. We chose less coverage in trying to keep the premiums lower. Bottom line, an employee working for our company for a certain number of years, used to get 100% of their health care premiums paid for by the company. Not any more. It just can’t be done. We are barely breaking even as it is. This is a huge burden on small business.

Jacki, Idaho:

Our insurance is considered a “premium” insurance so under Obama Care, my husbands company will be penalized (pay higher taxes) because they offer a premium insurance or an insurance better than the minimum requirements set forth by the government. As a result, our premiums & co-pays will go up and coverage/benefits are decreased to avoid these penalties.

So to summarize, under Obama Care, the government is saying “Hey, the insurance you provide is a little too good so we are going to penalize you so you won’t be able to offer this premium insurance to your employees any longer.”

Obama Care isn’t just about providing insurance to those who don’t have insurance, apparently it’s about making sure that all have the same coverage. After all, why would we want individuals who work hard to earn the insurance they carry to have any better than those who do not work for it?!

Ashley, Delaware:

My husband and I are a middle income family. We have sacrificed a lot for me to stay home with our two children. The insurance rates at his work for family coverage were too high, so we purchased a private policy to cover myself and our children. As of November 1st, our rates were going to up 36% to keep the same coverage. That meant our monthly payment would be over $700 PLUS we had a $3,000 deductible. (Keep in mind that in our five years of marriage, we have ONLY used insurance for natural maternity care. My husband and I are very healthy and our kids are never sick.) I spent several hours online trying to fill out forms for the Healthcare Marketplace and got absolutely nowhere. Finally, I contacted our insurance broker and based on some basic information, we determined that we qualified for a high deductible insurance plan that would cost about $550 a month. There was absolutely no incentive for us to switch to the high deductible plan offered by ObamaCare because it would cost so much in the long run and yet our new insurance rates were just not affordable anymore. What to do? After prayer, we decided it was best for our family to obtain coverage through Medi-Share which is a Christian medical bill sharing ministry. Fortunately, this exempts us from ObamaCare for NOW. We have no idea what the future holds because that could certainly change at any time. At that point, it will either require us to pay an insane amount of money in high premiums and deductibles every year OR pay an insane amount of money in fines for being unable to afford coverage. It doesn’t many ANY sense. Is this helping the average American family? I think not.

Amy, Texas:

Here is how the ACA has personally affected me and my family. I have two children with Type I Diabetes, a chronic, life long disease that requires insulin and expensive medical equipment. They rely on this equipment and insulin to keep them alive, after the ACA was passed ALL if their medical equipment went up in price from alcohol swabs to syringes to lancets to their pump sites. This is because, to partially fund this crap sandwich, they put a tax on durable medical equipment (yep, real “affordable” huh?). We have private, employer insurance through husbands employer. We have been married 21 years with 8 kids ranging from 20 down to 2 years of age and it has always been a priority that we have employee healthcare. In the earlier years we may have had to decide which utility was going to get shut off but we knew no matter what we were covered for our health. Since the ACA was passed, we have never seen our premiums skyrocket and our coverage drop like it did since then. The latest is we are losing the plan we have now (but, but we were told if you liked your plan you could keep it……said the spider to the fly!) and being put into something similar to the ACA: high deductibles and a percentage based plan (with higher premiums!) This means we no longer pay $20 for a Dr visit and it’s covered 100%. We now, come Jan 1rst, have to pay OUT of POCKET the first $2000 PER PERSON than it goes to 20% of the TOTAL cost after that. The worst part of that (how can it be worst? Well, buckle up because it is). Our Px plan is going from a co-pay to 80% of the cost of the drug with NO deductible!!! This means that in order to keep our two TI children alive we will be hit with $4000 immediately in Jan and their $30 a month insulin per boy will now go up to God knows what. See insulin is around $150 per vial and my boys go through 7 vials a month combined. My boys also have to see a specialist every 3 months, I don’t know how we’re going to afford that now. Unlike Obama and congress, I can do my math and it adds up to a financial crisis for my family. The worst part of all of this is my husband lost his part-time, adjunct teaching job in August at a university, a job he’s been doing for the last 10 years, and was told this was because of the ACA! Those “greedy” college presidents (s/off) have to cut back on expenses and adjunct professors are the first in line. We have lost $40k in income from this. After 21 years of marriage we are now back to the beginning days of eating ramen noodles and skimping on meat in our dishes. We are once again having utilities shut off only now we have 8 children and we’re not 21 anymore and our health is no longer covered. We can’t even help our 20 and 18 yr old college kids (whom can’t find full-time employment because of the ACA!). This is my story and how the ACA has destroyed our standard of living and our healthcare. Thanks party of the free crap voters for selling us all down the river for free crap, only you’re starting to find out nothing in life is ever free. Everything the government gives you has been taken from someone else and that someone else has 8 kids, two with special needs, and can no longer afford to buy ground beef. Thanks, thanks a lot!

April, Nevada:

I am a mother of 7 children – 6 living and 1 angel. I am married to a man who has been disabled for the last 4 years. I work as a self-employed virtual assistant and we do get disability for my husband. I purchased individual health insurance for my family back in 2009 and have been able to pay for my policy monthly since then. We didn’t really have very many pre-existing conditions, but our coverage was seriously lacking. The policy that we could afford left us with a $10K deductible for our family. This is after the $4K that we paid in premiums each year.

Last year, we had a baby who had a heart defect from trisomy 18 (she died at 4 days old)- oh btw – maternity isn’t covered unless there are no complications – so all that money for prenatal care came out of pocket – $8K plus the additional $10K deductible plus the $4K for premiums last year.

We got pregnant again this year, but because of pre term labor, my insurance declined to pay for my prenatal care – so again all that money is out of pocket plus the $4K in premiums plus another $10K deductible.

As of 12/1, our premiums are going to more than double because of the “taxes and fees” of Obamacare. Our premiums will now be $10K plus the out of pocket went up to $11K, plus, they still aren’t going to cover anything but perfect preventative situations and the network of doctors is smaller.

We have never been on medicaid or food stamps. We have always been able to take care of our own family. This premium increase is taking up almost 75% of our grocery budget… plus, we still have all the bills for the last two years which still need to be paid.

Brian, Missouri:

My health benefits went up $60 per check to prepare for Obamacare since we have a coalition with the MERCY St. Johns hospitals here. That is $120 per month. We have since then also received a letter stating that we will be able to keep our health care but the rates will be going up due to the increased cost on my employer,

Luke, Texas:

My company had open enrollment for health insurance today. They informed us that there are now two plans for 2014 instead of one. The basic plan has a low cost with high deductible and the premium plan had high cost with low deductible. If I chose the basic, my deductible would be 10 times what it was and I would still have to pay $30 more a month. If I chose the premium plan, My deductible would stay the same but my cost would go from $105 to $276 for just me and my wife. That’s almost triple the cost. Our dental & vision plans both doubled. This is ridiculous!

Jamie, Texas:

I am a stay at home mom and my husband is a self employed sub contractor with no access to health care unless we buy it ourselves. Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford it before and we still can’t afford it now, the only difference is that now we will be fined for NOT having it. So we won’t have health insurance ourselves but we will be paying for others to have it. Food is a little more important to us since it will help keep us healthy in the first place. We live a natural lifestyle and work to provide the best food and a non-toxic environment for our children and ourselves, that is the “healthcare” we chose and thought we had the freedom to make that choice, but under these new policies, we don’t have that right anymore. Apparently, it’s now our “right” to be forced into paying for healthcare we don’t use or be fined by not paying for it. Mind blowing. Obviously, if we couldn’t afford healthcare we can’t afford the fine for not having healthcare

Emily, Iowa:

Recently our 2 year-old daughter had an ear infection. Went to the doc, got a prescription for an antibiotic. Went to the pharmacy to fill said prescription. I was expecting it to cost around 5 dollars because that’s what it cost the last time we had it filled. Wrong. It now costs 75 dollars. I paid 75 dollars for an antibiotic that used to cost us 5 dollars. When I asked the pharmacist, “Why the huge increase?” She replied, “Obamacare. And this is just the beginning.”

We are thankful for good insurance through my husband’s employer, but I am concerned about how the “Affordable Care Act” is going to hurt us.

Robbi, Oklahoma:

I’m 56 and had cancer last year and developed Rheumatoid Arthritis. My medical expenses run around $40,000 a year. My insurance provider has covered me in this losing situation for them. My premiums have risen but not as much as I thought they would. I received a letter of intent to cancel my coverage as of Dec. 31, 2013 due to our wonderful “Obamacare”. They have informed me that is where I can get coverage. I’d love to find out the cost, coverage and deductible but I can’t get an account on the web site. I’ve been trying since healthcare.gov has opened. I keep getting messages that I didn’t check my e-mail quick enough. The only way I could get them quicker is grab them in cyberspace before it hits my inbox. Yes, that’s going to happen. So, needless to say this is the biggest debacle I’ve ever experience. And where did the millions go to create this? I have a feeling this is going to be out of my “affordable” range.

Samantha, Nevada:

My husband and I are sole proprietors of our own little maintenance business that runs two service trucks and we’ve always paid out of pocket for our medical needs (we have a great family Dr. who gives us cash discounts for basically all procedures we’ve ever needed done- we even came up with the 20k I needed for a major proceedure). I have chronic migraine and anxiety, my husband has high blood pressure- we do visit the doctor quite a bite so one of the “low” plans wouldn’t quite fit our family very well (the super high deductible, lower monthly rate plans). In Nevada, our state has come up with two answers to insurance- the exchange and a “co-op” so that there is an answer that fits “everyone’s needs”. Let me show my family of three’s rates:

NV exchange:

Frontier Simple (i.e. bronze)- premium $1011/ month deductible $6250.00
Anthem Bronze (gotta have choice)- Premium 1165/ month deductible $5000 (different kind of coverage between the two

Frontier Silver- Premium- $1353 /month- Deductible $1500/ month
Anthem Silver- $1411/ Month- – $2250 Deductible

Frontier gold- 1467/ month- 650 deductible
Anthem gold- 1953/ month- 750 deductible

The above deductibles, of course, are per individual- not on a familial basis!

NV CO-OP- These deductibles actually go on a familial basis, not on individual

Bronze- $1,021/month prem. $12,500 deduc.

Silver- $1363/month $3,000

Gold- $1477/month – $1300

The gold premium is more than I spend on my rent and car payment combined per month.

K, no state given:

Board of Education Employee.

I’ve always been happy with my insurance. I will not be able to afford it this year for my family of 5. Listed below are monthly premiums.

2011 $228.28
2012 $235.86
2013 $350.86
2014 $539.84

Susan, no state given:

I am 33 years old, 6.5 months pregnant & UN-insured. my husbands salary alone disqualifies us for medicaid. i am self employed massage therapist and I’m currently tapering off work to be on “maternity leave” but plan to stay home with our baby as long as possible. (my salary really isn’t that much anyway)

…NOW, Open enrollment for my husbands insurance policy started at the first of October. He has been in contact with the insurance company multiple times looking at the various options of having both myself and our baby covered starting January first. He was quoted a monthly OUT of POCKET fee of $1100!!! in addition to us having a $5000 deductible. Someone tell me how that is considered “Affordable Healthcare” I would have to get a regular job just to be able to pay for insurance, and then I’d have to have childcare to take care of my child while working. makes no sense to me!

Before being pregnant I see a Medical Doctor MAYBE twice a year, one of those being for an annual physical which I have been paying out of pocket for, for the past 10 years or so… I very rarely get sick enough to go to the doctor for anything. the only reason i would want any medical insurance would be in the case that I “might” deliver my child at the hospital. I have every intension of delivering our future children with the same birthing center and midwife I currently have with our first.

Ashley, Kentucky:

I am the wife of a Child/Adolescent Psychiatrist here in Kentucky. Because of Obamacare, my husband is being forced to change the way he has practiced medicine for years. In a psychiatric evaluation, there are certain questions he is no longer allowed to ask and others that he is being mandated to ask. A government issued checklist is now mandated to serve as the basis of an evaluation instead of the previously utilized evidence based evaluation tools and techniques. An hour and a half evaluation has now been shortened to half an hour, which allows no time to cover the bases, especially in that of a complicated patient with a long mental health history. Also of very important note, many patients who see my husband 1-2 times per month currently will only be allowed to have 4 visits per year, once every 3 months. How is that for better access to health care? Many in this country label doctors as “greedy” and assume that many are leaving practices because they won’t make much money due to Obamacare. What people do not realize is that doctors are leaving certain practices and hospitals because Obamacare laws pretty much force doctors to practice unethically. The government “checklist” for an evaluation and limited treatment of patients violates the Hippocratic oath. You won’t hear people discussing that though. Instead you hear “doctors should just make less” or “doctors are selfish and greedy.” My husband only brings home 54% of his paycheck anyway. He’s not in it for the money and neither are most of his colleagues I’ve met. He just cannot practice unethically. Thus, he will be leaving his job at a community mental health center in December.

Oh, and besides all the doctor related stuff, our health insurance premiums nearly doubled, copays almost tripled even for preventative care for our toddler, and deductibles increased by $1,000.

Kathleen, Utah:

I worked for a school district, working 35 hours a week without a contract. With the Obamacare implementation the school district cut all hours for every employee without a contract to only 25 hours a week. This affected hundreds of employees as this is the largest school district in the state. I loved my job but working only 25 hours a week is not enough. You can’t blame the school district for cutting hours, they simply can’t afford to offer everyone insurance so cutting hours is the only way they could think of to not have to lay people off.

Terri, Minnesota:

I just got notice that my insurance premiums are going up $80 a month if I want my same plan! I am a single mom with two kids who supports myself and my kids with no govmt or other assistance and have always been proud of that. I’m a nurse (no my employer doesnt provide health insurance) and I constantly have patients who are on Medical Assistance and they can have any health care they want. I struggle to find health care that I can afford only to find out now it will cost me even more? How is ObamaCare helping me?!!

It is punishing hard working middle class people that work 40 hours a week!

Patti, Tennessee:

I work for a very large medical school and health care organization in Tennessee and we are currently going through “Open Enrollment” for our insurance. As we are a very large organization my company actually self funds our insurance with a larger health insurance company underwriting it.
As the companys health care cost is increasing they are passing that increase to us – to the tune of $1200 a year! It now cost me $100 additional a month to cover my husband IF he elects to not obtain his own insurance thorugh his employer. I still get to pay the higher price to cover my family – even though it technically doesn’t cover my husband with out the addition fee and which has also increase by more than it ever has. No one has come out and said that this is due to Obamacare being introduced but as more people will now be going to the hospitals for care and reimbursements being lower they had to make the money up somehow…so thank you Obamacare for placing my company in a position where in order to cover their expense I penalized for covering my husband.

Holly, no state given:

I work for a Private Practice Neurosurgeon, and have been recently informed that due to increased cost, uncertain future of healthcare as a whole, and the already declining (due to the government) profit for her practice, she will no longer be offering healthcare benefits.

Yep..In the world of healthcare, a provider is unable to provide benefits for her five employees because the cost would be detrimental to her bottom line. (She refuses to bow to the government, which she knows will be the end of her career within a few short years…but shes a woman of principal, and wont let them dictate how healthcare was intended to be practiced…for the betterment of the individual)

Not only on a career level, but I am also pregnant, and if I want to deliver at the hospital in which I work, I have to either:

a) Sign up outside of the “Market Place” for insurance, but after 4 weeks, STILL cant get a quote on how much that will cost, or
b) buy insurance through the “Affordable Health Care Plan” and be forced to pick a Humana plan, because that’s the only Affordable H.C.P Policy that my hospital will take.

Kathy, Oklahoma:

I lost not only my insurance policy, but the whole company. My family’s been insured for over 20 years by a small, church-affiliated insurance company. We have been very, very happy with them, and they have become like friends to us. Unfortunately, the company is so small that they cannot absorb the costs of Obamacare, which would bankrupt them within a few months or weeks of January 1, 2014. They sent us a letter earlier this year notifying us that, due to the costs of Obamacare, they would not be able to survive financially, and would be closing their doors as of December 31, 2013. Therefore, we would need to find some other insurer.

Among many other things I’ve always liked about our insurer is the fact that they do not cover abortions. I have been active in the pro-life movement for many years. While some of the larger insurers have individual plans that do not cover abortion, I have never found a large insurance company that does not cover abortions at all. Since, when you send in your premiums, the money all goes into one big pot, some portion of your money is indeed going to pay for abortions. I resent the the hell out of the fact that I no longer have the option of abortion-free insurance.

Corrine, Utah:

My husband and I have not had insurance for several years since he got sick and lost his job due to it. Because he was doing everything he *could* do, as a man should, he made $600 too much in one YEAR to qualify for disability, which he paid for for over 30 years of working and paying into Social Security.

We have been self pay medical for all this time and have a great dr who works with us to manage his care. His medications cost about $110 a month and he requires visits to manage his health. The dr visits cost us $65 per visit and when he needs a test we can work with the dr to see which ones he honestly needs and which are an unnecessary expense.

Enter Obamacare. Now I have to pay $461 per month for insurance, and after that pay a $2500 deductible and $35 per visit before any of his expenses can be covered. We were barely able to manage his care before, and admittedly need a catastophic policy in case of hospitalization etc, but now we can’t afford ANY care for him. I was spending about $175 per month for his care, now I will spend that much, plus the $461 per month. I am trying to support my family as a mom with a disabled husband, and trying to do it honorably.

Obamacare will most likely kill my husband over time.

Clair, Kentucky:

My husband lost his job because obamacare caused his company to cut his hours and he needed a full time job.

He needed full time work because the retirement from 20 years as a city firefighter was not enough to pay the bills. But that was ok, because it did leave us with insurance. Now that insurance has informed us that we MUST sign up for their slide into obamacare.

The lose of the job was not the horror… just bad enough. The horror is that we are ardently pro-life and morally abhor the notion of paying for abortions. We are sick with the lack of choice. We would (happily) go to prison to avoid this option, but that is (unfortunately) not a choice. The IRS will only siphon off his retirement pay. The will put a lean on our home, they will get their money, one way or the other…

Makes us sick? Beyond sick. Sickened. We are not even able to be courageous in the nightmare. Going without insurance would be our choice, but that is not allowed us. We are in our mid-50’s and we lie in bed at night not sure that we could ‘fall off the grid’ if we decided that was the moral way to go.

Holly, no state given:

My husband is a busy chiropractor who works long, hard days. As a self-employed individual, he already pays 12% more in taxes than those employed by a business, and now Obamacare has made private health insurance completely unaffordable for our family. Despite our frugal nature and his growing business, we still cannot make ends meet between paying off student loans from chiropractic school, paying high taxes, paying for malpractice insurance, paying daily bills, and now paying for insanely expensive health insarance that doesn’t even give us good coverage. We are having to move our family of 5 out of the small home we rent and we will be moving in with some friends for the time being. It is humiliating to my husband that he cannot provide for our needs after all his schooling and hard work, and we hate the thought that I will have to leave my children and go back to work just to afford rent on a dumpy apartment that would barely fit all 5 of us. We have had a dream of becoming successful and financially independent not so that we can have a fancy house and lavish vacations, but so that we could spend our lives and fortune to serve and give back to others. How can we serve others in need when our big government makes it so difficult for us to be able to provide for our own immediate needs? They are killing the American dream!

Sharon, North Carolina:

Self-employed living in NC with BCBSofNC insurance. Family of three (me, husband & 20 year old daughter).

2013 monthly premium = $469.53 with an out of pocket deductible of $10,000
(yes ten thousand dollars) and the policy includes wellness and a % of
prescriptions until the $10,000 deductible is met making our current yearly
premium cost $5,634.36 and for everything that is not wellness (even
prescriptions) add that to our cost to $10,000 making our total yearly out
of pocket $15,634.36.

Received the letter from BCBSofNC about two weeks ago alerting me of our new
family 2014 monthly premium with the same policy as above.

2014 montly premium = $1,086.25 with an out of pocket deductible of
$11,000; so the simple math follows:

Obamacare / Affordable Care Act now makes our current health insurance:

$13,035 a year with the added $11,000 deductible making our grand total cost
to use our insurance for any reason other than wellness a whopping $24,035 a
year.

Had meeting with our BCBSofNC agent last Wed. Oct 16th and we discussed our
options, but weren’t able to confirm or verify information or sign-up for a
new plan due to the government system not being up and running. Imagine
that?!$#@

Susie, no state given:

Bottom line, neither my daughter nor I will be able to “keep [our] health care plan” past December, 2014. Mild, thus far, compared to some stories I’ve read/heard, but unsettling nonetheless. What that means for us past that date, I don’t know, but having recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, I’m leery to say the least.

Michael, Virginia:

Didn’t the President say that under Obamacare we could keep our plan if we liked it? Well, we just received a letter from our health insurance provider, BlueCross BlueShield, stating, “To meet the new requirements of the new laws, your current plan can no longer be offered.” Of course, they did give us the option of switching to a similar plan, WITH A RATE INCREASE, even though they just raised our insurance rate a few months ago.

Alan, Kentucky:

32 yr. old small business owner… Wife stays at home with our 2 year old and 4 month old. I’ve had health coverage for the entire family through Anthem for the past 6 years purchasing it myself.
I was contacted by Anthem last week to let me know my premium will increase 94% starting August 2014, making our monthly payment $1,100.00 a month for my family of 4. (Mortgage is $805.00 a month) Direct quote from my Anthem Rep: “I mean if you don’t have a job and don’t have any coverage, this is a great deal. But the middle class small business owners will get hit the hardest.” She also said, “The healthy young males that never go to the doctor will get hit with this bill the most out of anyone involved. You guys will pay the price for everyone else”

Jessica, Texas:

I still have my job, and I still have insurance through my job. I also have a digestive disorder that needs constant watch, a hormonal disorder that requires medication, muscle degeneration that requires medication, and the same basic medical needs as any other adult here in America. However, thanks to the wonder that is Obamacare my monthly premium literally tripled. I pay so much just to have insurance “coverage” that I can no longer afford my medication, much less going to see the doctor. Yay.

Fred, New Jersey:

I’ve tried to complain to my senators, representative and the Governor with no response. My wife and I are both 58, semi-retired/self-employed and pay for our own health insurance. I recently received the obligatory letter from my insurance company, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, explaining how the ACA will be affecting me and that my current plan cannot be renewed on our anniversary date in 2014. Wonderful! They did tell me to check their website to see what new plans they will be offering me. Here is what I found.

The ‘equivalent’ plan – the least expensive option – will cost us almost $11,000 (premiums and deductibles) more for an inferior insurance plan (50% co-insurance v. 20% currently). In fact, when I reviewed our costs in 2012, we used less then the new deductible for the year! We will be paying for our insurance and not even be using the ‘insurance’ part of the policy. I know I’m partially paying for the ‘risk’ but this is ridiculous. How in the world can this be justified! Where is the Affordable in the Affordable Care Act? A year over year increase of $11,000!!!

Just for the record we do not qualify nor do I want government assistance. I also checked the NJ ‘marketplace’ website and found Horizon to be comparable or better than the other offerings. It would be cheaper for me to pay cash to my doctors and pay the Obama Mandate penalty. This just doesn’t make sense.

Kristi and Tom, Oregon:

We own and operate a small Landscaping business in Oregon.

We purchase our own Medical Insurance and pay close to $500.00 per month for the 2 of us. We were covered for most preventative care and remainder was on us, with a yearly out of pocket deductible of $2,500.00 per person. Not great, but it is what we could afford.

We received notice in early October that we were being cancelled due to the new Law. Our insurance policy did not meet the needs of Obama-care. In order to meet those needs our insurance policy would be increased by $300.00 per month taking our monthly premium to almost $800.00. We are by no means rich or poor (by America’s standards) we get by.

We now have way less for more out of pocket to keep our monthly premium down. (It still went up)

We are two very hard workers and when the economy went south, we did everything to survive. Our company went from 8 employees to just the two of us. (52 and 48 years of age )Along with our employees went any kind of Retirement we had saved. We have gotten creative and come up with businesses we can do as we grow older. We created a Wedding Venue and we raise animals on our farm. We are very thankful for the opportunity that we have had to work hard in America and make things happen for our family. Sadly, we are watching this mentality rapidly changing. Those who don’t work hard are being rewarded and those who do are being punished by the likes of Obama-care.

Anonymous,

I wanted to tell you our story about Obamacare! My husband and I own a few Subway stores and two Smashburger stores! We are not rich, I consider us middle class, with a few perks here and there! I would rather stay anonymous if you want to share bits of this story, for obvious reasons! My husband has been in the business for 27 years…he has employed, for the most part, the same managers for at least 15 of those years! After meeting with our accountant, our attorney, and putting our own pencil to paper, come February, not everyone will keep their jobs! All hourly employees will be knocked down to 24 or less hours, 2 salaried full time managers will be let go, and we will take the position of not only owners, but in-store managers! Sad to say, but many of our employees have been quite voiceful about voting for Obama and looking forward to Obamacare, the two that have squeaked the loudest about this, is who we’ve chosen to take one for the team, and go! Two had to go, this is how we made that decision of which two! A lot of our hourly employees are working college students, and some single moms and dads! They will have to pick up another job or two! Christmas bonuses will no longer exist, and a yearly paid vacation for our managers and families will stop! We have looked into every avenue and loop hole we could possibly find to avoid all this and protect our small family business! We avoided, due to Obama’s generosity (eye roll) making these decisions beginning of October, it bought us a few months, but come February, the axe WILL fall and many more will join the growing list of unemployed! All small business owners that we know are following suit! Very sad times!!!

Troy, AZ:

My wife and I run 2 small businesses from our home. We got a letter from BCBS of AZ that our plan doesn’t meet all of the ACA requirements, so it’s being terminated. We have scoured every option, and the least expensive option for our family has nearly twice the deductible, AND 50% higher premiums! Our plan was not even a catastrophic plan! Of course we don’t qualify for any subsidies, even though we’re about as middle class as they come. We have no choice but to consider not getting insurance and paying the idiotic tax that’s “not a tax.”

Jenny, Texas:

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and have been struggling with relief. My doctor recently prescribed a medicine that was very expensive–$1800 a month. My insurance covered about half, and then the pharmaceutical company took care of most of the rest, making it affordable to me. It was providing a lot of relief in the two months I got to take it. My doctor also said that I would see the full effects in about 6 months, meaning I would feel even better–maybe even approaching “normal” allowing me to be a true mom and wife again and participate more fully in my work.

My specialty pharmacy called me last week to let me know my insurance company now says my family deductible *for prescriptions only* is $4800. There was no prescription deductible before Obamacare, now I’m being forced off of this quality of life improving medicine because of this dumb law.

I am not a well off person by any stretch. I am a teacher, mom of 2, and wife of a man who is underemployed, partially due to Obamacare. We make too much
to qualify for any assistance, but not enough to really “make it.”

Anonymous:

My husband had a stroke in 2010. January this year finally got him on Medicare plus Health Alliance supplement. Up to that time his insurance – Health Alliance – ran $1160 per month.

Today we received letters from Health Alliance – 4 of the drugs he is on the Tier level is increasing – 2 from Tier 1 to Tier 2 – 1 from Tier 2 to Tier 3 – 1 from Tier 3 to Tier 4. Wouldn’t be surprised to receive more this week.

We have wiped out our retirement now with insurance increases of out-of-pocket expenses, we are being forced to dig deeper or go without.

Ashley, Texas:

Thanks to Obama, I now pay 80% of ALL doctors visits, ALL prescriptions, ALL well child visits, etc. I pay 80% until I should (somehow manage to) hit my $4,800!!! dollar deductible. Which basically means I pay the majority of ALL medical bills out of pocket- because 20% does nothing to help. And hitting that high of a deductible is nearly impossible unless I have a tragic accident. Rumor has it that my monthly payments and deductibles will be going up again in January…

I am a single mom to a 4 yr old. My ex husband never follows through with child support much less his 50% of all our child’s medical expenses. I’m a teacher so I am doing all of this on about 50k a year. I definitely cannot afford this legislation.

Marko, Nevada:

After spending way too much time filling out the application and being told that my address doesn’t exist (does that mean I don’t have to pay property taxes anymore?) and that none of our social security numbers are correct I was given two options; Medicare or paying for health coverage with no subsidies. The cheapest option was $1088/ month for the five of us with a $7500 deductible, $50 copay (I pay $65 for a doctor visit now with no insurance) and $40 prescriptions. I refuse to go on Medicare!

Mike, California:

I had insurance on the individual market before Obamacare. With implementation of Obamacare my premiums QUADRUPLED!!! So I went to see what it would cost me if I enrolled in the ACA and it’s still THREE TIMES what I was paying before. I WAS AN OBAMA SUPPORTER UNTIL NOW!!!