Insurance experience

 So this has been on my mind since last week and I want to share some thoughts about insurance. There has been LOTS of conversations about the ACA or Obama Care program and whether it is legal or a good program, etc. Here are some personal experiences with insurance and ACA.

My children are 23 and 25, I am fully aware that rates change as the years go by however, for reference to my experience, please keep an open mind.

I had 2 C-Section babies. I had an amniocentesis with the first one. My insurance was paid by the employer (NO out of pocket expense for me). My co pay was $10 for every visit (or most visits). I NEVER got a bill from the hospital for the birth my children and my stay in the hospital. NEVER. Insurance covered it. Once I had children and went on birth control, I paid $10 a month for my prescription. Once I started paying for family with insurance through work, I only paid about $200-$250 for a family plan. I got to choose a PPO plan instead of HMO plan and got to choose the doctor I wanted to see. I was NEVER charged more money for being a women. I was never treated poorly and discriminated against because I was a women. It was NEVER a pre-existing condition. MOST people get insurance from work so group insurance covers all things. Prior to ACA, there were many options to choose from in carriers and underwriters. 

ACA came into affect when they were telling us that they were going to help us by reducing our premiums and reducing the costs of medical care and prescriptions! THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED. Instead they created this insurance program FORCING people to have insurance or be fined. To have the ACA, you had to have a certain financial threshold to qualify. AND the premiums and deductibles were SUPER HIGH for ALL people who got into the plan. To add fuel to this fire, MOST of the doctors did not take this insurance. SO, if you had a doctor and had to get ACA, you lost your doctor (which is against what they said). It was worth the penalty because the insurance was too much per month!

Here is another experience, I tried to get an insurance plan which I found that was a few hundred cheaper, BUT I had to have all of the prenatal care stuff on my plan AND PAY FOR IT, even though I am too old to have children now. That to me is discrimination to women. We should be able to choose if we want that rider on our insurance. NOT AN OPTION! 

So, let's talk about what has come from this ACA and life with insurance. NOW, you pay over $1000 a month, more like $1200-$1500 premiums, your deductibles are $5000 or more, you have to have insurance in an area that you do not need (age out) and you pay more for prescription costs over average. I've never had an insurance company deny a surgery when recommended by a doctor, but with this ACA, the insurance companies are now allowed to deny a needed service if they desire! NEVER had to worry about that before.

SO, is the ACA a good program for all? NO! Is there a better way? YES! The insurance program in the past was more cost effective and allowed doctors and patience decide necessity and need. We DO NOT need a one for all program. We need a program that helps each with their needs. Do we need a plan that takes pre-existing? YES! Did that exist before? I believe it did. It would allow you to be with a company for a year and then it would cover (in most cases). We DO not need a one payer system because our capitalistic system thrives on competition. There is NO COMPETITION in the one payer system. So the costs are higher that way. Why do we not see this? Why are we expecting someone to take care of us instead of taking care of ourselves. We need to think about how to improve the areas that need improvement and leave the rest alone!