This is part two of my series of blogs about the ways that the GOP, under President Trump, attempted to destroy Obamacare. You may want to read part one before jumping into this blog post.
This blog post details the shenanigans that happened in 2018, during the 115th Congress. The GOP had the Presidency, the majority in the U.S. Senate and the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Continue Reading “A Timeline of the GOP’s Attempts to Destroy Obamacare – Part Two”
My health insurance premium unexpectedly increased – without warning – at the start of 2019. This means I’ll be paying more out of pocket than expected. I’ve not yet figured out how to pay for the dental work that I need done, and that my dental health insurance won’t cover.
I am writing this blog post while sick, and knowing that I will not have access to a primary care doctor for three months.
Obamacare is the name most frequently used to refer to President Barack Obama’s signature piece of health care legislation. That’s not the actual name off the health care law, though. The phrase “Obama-care” was first used by lobbyist Jeanne Schultz Scott in the trade journal Healthcare Financial Management in March 2007.
The name of the law is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (PPACA). It is often shortened to Affordable Care Act (ACA). People also call the health care law Obamacare, and it is also sometimes spelled as ObamaCare.
On March 3, 2016, The New York Times reported that President Obama said that enrollment in health coverage under the Affordable Care Act had reached a new high – 20 million people. That figure includes people who have received private health insurance on the exchanges, those who gained Medicaid coverage under state expansions, and young adults who were able to stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26.
Here is what happened to Obamacare after President Trump took office on January 20, 2017, with a Republican majority in both the U.S. Senate and in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Continue Reading “A Timeline of the GOP’s Attempts to Destroy Obamacare – Part One”
CHIP stands for the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It provides health coverage to eligible children, through both Medicaid and separate CHIP programs. CHIP is administered by states, according to federal requirements. The program is funded jointly by states and the federal government.
The Medicaid.gov website says that 8.9 million children were enrolled in CHIP (according to 2016 statistical enrollment data). Eligibility is based on income. It covers uninsured children up to age 19 in families with incomes too high to qualify them for Medicaid. CHIP also covers pregnant women who meet income eligibility requirements. In 2010, the Affordable Care Act extended CHIP eligibility to state employee’s children (who previously were not eligible, regardless of income.)
Here is what happened when the United States Congress failed to renew funding for CHIP in 2017.
Continue Reading “What Happened After Congress Failed to Renew CHIP Funding”
The federal government is trying, once again, to allow religious employers to refuse to cover contraception in their employee’s health insurance plans. The time limit for voicing opinion on this proposed change closes on December 5, 2017. This proposed rule change might also take away contraceptive coverage in Medicaid, Medicare, and plans obtained via the Affordable Care Act.
Here is the comment I wrote to make it clear that I oppose allowing religious employers/organizations to refuse to cover contraceptives.
Information on the rule change can be found here. Please add your comment to oppose this change before December 5, 2017. Feel free to use some of what I wrote in my comment in the comment you write.
This blog will be updated as this goes through the courts.
Continue Reading “Comment I Wrote Opposing Religious Exemptions for Contraceptive Coverage”
In May of this year, my health insurance subsidy magically disappeared. A bill arrived in which the premium had gone up so much that there was no way we’d be able to pay it. Long story short, I ended up having to pick a new plan.
At the time, I had a Silver plan. The subsidy helped me pay for it and my premiums were low enough to make it possible for me to afford health insurance coverage. My husband and I are both disabled, and my attempt to get Social Security Disability was denied – so I can’t get Medicare. I’m stuck with individual health insurance from a private company.
I’m going to greatly summarize what just happened. A little while ago, my husband got a bill from my health insurance company. For some unknown reasons, my premium went up DRAMATICALLY because my subsidy had been taken away from me. He later explained that when he got this bill, he was afraid that he would have to get (another) job.
Let me put that into context. My husband is legally blind and gets Medicare as a result. He has optic nerve atrophy, which cannot be cured. He has tried, in the past, from time to time, to get a “regular job” – but is greatly limited by what kind of job he can do because of his vision. In addition, he already has a job doing freelance writing and audio production.
Continue Reading “Freaking Out Over My Health Insurance Subsidy”
It’s been more than a month since I had my third, and final, disability hearing. I understand that disability judges aren’t known for their speedy decision making abilities, and that there were four holidays between when I had the hearing and today (Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve).
I get it. I’m trying to be patient.
I’m having trouble waiting for an indefinite amount of time for an answer that will either make my life a bit easier – or that will make it significantly harder to struggle through. I can’t move on until I know which way things will go, and I refuse to let my hopes go up for fear of them crashing to the floor and shattering into a thousand pieces when the mail finally arrives.
In October of 2015, I stopped qualifying for Medicaid. (Medi-Cal in California).
Nobody bothered to let me know about this obviously important change.
I ended up seeing a doctor, to set up as a new patient, while uninsured.
Of course, there was no way for me to know that I was uninsured.
Continue Reading “For Those Who Think Being Poor Makes for an Easy Life”
In a previous blog, I wrote that Shawn and I got our health insurance coverage through Covered California. It is the health insurance marketplace for the state of California. We ended up with a health plan that covered both me and Shawn. It cost only a few more dollars than the health plan that covered only me.
Right away, it was obvious that we were saving money by purchasing a health insurance plan through Covered California. Part of the reason was because we qualified for a subsidy. The only way to use your subsidy is to go through the Marketplace (which, for us, is Covered California).
