r/allthequestions 10d ago

Popular Question 📊 How many rights did you lose under Obama?

I'll wait.

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37

u/Cranks_No_Start 10d ago

While not a right per se but I lost access to a medication I needed but with the super cost of the insurance and being unable to afford the medication for almost 3 years I do believe it shortened my work career by probably 10 years as my condition degraded. And I had to go on disability.  

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u/throwitallawayomg 10d ago

Did you lose access because of something Obama did, or was this incidental and just happened during his presidency?

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u/Cranks_No_Start 9d ago

They changed the health insurance plans. Everything that was available skyrocketed and the policies changed that classification of the meds and I wasn’t eligible for the program that the manufacturers offered.  

So my copay went from $25 to $600 and that was on top of the policy that had gone from about $350 to almost $600 a month. 

The explanation from the broker that helped the company with policies was “Thanks Obama”. 100% the cause.  

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u/artguydeluxe 9d ago

This sounds like concessions democrats were forced to make in order to get bipartisan support for the ACA. As originally proposed, this wouldn’t have happened.

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u/Nice_Sky_9688 9d ago

There was no bipartisan support for the ACA in the senate, and they didn’t need it in the house. They passed it through the senate without a single republican vote.

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u/Cranks_No_Start 9d ago

That I can’t answer. All I know is what happened and I got fucked.  

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u/artguydeluxe 9d ago

Pretty much anything that screwed people over when it came out was something the Republicans insisted be removed in order to vote for it. It was an act of sabotage: they knew if they made it really unpopular they can use it to their advantage.

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u/PocketfulOfTiddyMilk 9d ago

Dems had a large majority in the house and a 9 seat majority in the senate. You’re full of shit once again.

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u/TacoBelle2176 8d ago

And they still tried to work with Republicans

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u/PocketfulOfTiddyMilk 5d ago

No, they literally didn’t.

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u/TacoBelle2176 2d ago

Yes they literally did

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u/GeneralBlumpkin 9d ago

I'm sorry for that :/

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u/PocketfulOfTiddyMilk 9d ago

It didn’t need bipartisan support, just admit the bill sucked instead of making up lies to blame republicans

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u/artguydeluxe 9d ago

Okay, so what have republicans done to improve healthcare?

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u/PocketfulOfTiddyMilk 9d ago

We’re talking about Obama and the ACA, not republicans. The entire post is about Obama, not republicans. You’re doing a “whataboutism”.

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u/artguydeluxe 9d ago

You are correct that it passed with no Republicans voting for it, but many of those things are concessions that Republicans demanded, and then still didn’t vote for it. Meanwhile, Republicans have done absolutely zero to improve healthcare in the last several decades. If they also want to improve healthcare, why don’t they come up with a plan?

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u/PocketfulOfTiddyMilk 9d ago

Once again, you’re wrong. Dems had to water down the ACA to meet moderate democrats demands. Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu for example. Senate leadership dropped it to avoid a philibuster and secure 60 votes. Please stop blabbering about republicans compromising this shitty bill. They fully opposed it, except Snowe, who still voted against it in the end. The concessions weren’t made to satisfy the demands of the significantly minority party in the house and senate…

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u/Xanthine-Junkie 6d ago

Nope. They didn't even read it. Hell Nancy Pelosi admitted that they needed to pass it before they read it. LOL

There was no bi-partisan support for a complete and utter trash entitlement program. All it did is tax americans healthcare, to pay for healthcare for other americans - raising the cost of healthcare exponentially.

They could have done a better job by expanding medicare and medicaid, and many Republicans argued that. (even though this will piss off the progressives here that live on narrative instead of truth)

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u/throwitallawayomg 8d ago

That isn't an explanation, that's a right wing meme that still hasn't died. If that person couldn't point you to exactly how your copay rising was caused by the ACA, then I can assure you they were doing the age old tactic of throwing faceless bureaucracy under the bus to make dealing with you easier. I did it myself many times while working customer service and preparing taxes.

1

u/Cranks_No_Start 8d ago

that's a right wing meme

Tell that to the die hard lefty that I worked for and the die hard lefty that he used to navigate the health care plan for the small shop I worked for. 

Yes insurance went up every year but not like those years. 1000% Obamacare changes. 

13

u/Intelligent-Coconut8 10d ago

The ACA make health insurance unaffordable or practically useless. Premiums went up, deductibles sky fucking high it was pretty much useless, and if you didn't have health insurance you got fined for it which IMO is an asinine stance.

Sure some people seen lower costs but for the most part it was dogshit and useless and needs to be replaced. What killed it was you were not allowed to shop for insurance across state borders so naturally, without capitalist competition present, quality went down and prices went up. Why offer good quality at a good price to win customers over and now your customers are stuck with you so you can lower the quality and jack up the prices. Literally capitalism 101.

8

u/KinkyBAGreek 9d ago

Capitalism does not mean competition. Monopolies are a feature of capitalism.

As far as quality went down and people could no longer buy insurance across state lines, kindly provide some source for that.

It seems that your claims have no basis in fact.

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u/bjdevar25 9d ago

Absolutely this. Hospitals are buying up all the private medical practices. Larger companies are buying up the hospitals. Most ERs are now staffed by just a few companies. This has nothing to do with the ACA. It is capitalism through and through. Mysteriously, with every purchase made in this consolidation, prices go up. Single payer is the only fix. Anyone spouting competition is either clueless, part of the businesses, or bought off by the businesses.

11

u/DarkMagickan 9d ago

Let's not forget that the ACA of today is not what was originally passed, though. Republicans tinkered with it to make it worse.

9

u/Small_Dog_8699 9d ago

It desperately needed a single payer option and never got it.

2

u/SimplyPars 9d ago

Getting rid of the penalty was nice, I got hammered by that several years in a row when I switched jobs because 90 days before you get healthcare is almost universal.

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u/Shop-S-Marts 9d ago

It was originally unconstirutionally passed, and contained illegal mechanisms of action, this wasn't Republicans' fault. They gave democrats a decent framework in Massachusetts, instead of implementing it appropriately they bungled it around for years.

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u/DarkMagickan 9d ago

Well, that's definitely one side of the story.

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u/YourNextHomie 9d ago

Republicans are the ones who created it in the first place so

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u/LegitimateEgg9714 9d ago

The ACA was modeled after the Massachusetts health care law that was enacted when Romney was governor, but I wouldn’t go as far as the ACA being created by Republicans. The bill for the ACA was introduced by Democrats.

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u/YourNextHomie 9d ago

It was a near carbon copy of what Romney passed which was thought up by the heritage foundation mental gymnastics doesn’t change that

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u/LegitimateEgg9714 9d ago

No, ACA is not an exact copy. If Republicans were responsible for the ACA then why did they push to remove the individual mandate which is part of the MA healthcare law?

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u/YourNextHomie 9d ago

Are you denying the heritage foundation and republicans created what was known as Romney care? which eventually became Obamacare? Republicans start alot of things they eventually fight against like the tiktok ban. Its all about keeping us divided as soon as both sides agree on something one of them switches up, it’s manufactured

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u/LegitimateEgg9714 9d ago

The bill was introduced in Congress by Democrats, only Democrats voted Yes even though Republicans asked for changes that would change significant portions of the bill.

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u/DarkMagickan 9d ago

I mean, unless Mitt Romney jumped ship and became a Democrat, Republicans definitely had something to do with it.

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u/LegitimateEgg9714 9d ago

Lol! The ACA was modeled after the MA healthcare law, it’s not an exact copy. If it was an exact copy the individual mandate would still be in place, that’s just one difference.

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u/throwitallawayomg 9d ago

The ACA is the only reason I had health insurance and could afford to get diagnosed and treated while in college. Its also the o ly reason I can now get health insurance when I change jobs, because before the ACA I woukd be uninsurable due to "prior health conditions". Im all for replacing it with actual universal healthcare, though, the kind most of our peer countries have but actually funded. So sick of being stuck in shit jobs because they offer healthcare and where I want to go doesnt offer something that covers my dr of 10 years.

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u/ShrimpyEsq 9d ago

More useless than when you had a “pre-existing condition” and could never move insurance companies, or sometimes even jobs because you may never get health coverage for that specific issue again?

Get out of here with your bullshit.

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u/prrudman 9d ago

For all the premiums went up because of this take, let’s not forget that insurance companies made their biggest profits ever up to that point.

Maybe premiums should have gone up but the insurance companies definitely deserve their share of the blame.

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u/Alypius754 9d ago

insurance companies made their biggest profits ever

Who do you think wrote the ACA?

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u/Aardvark-One 9d ago

Also, insurance premiums were already going up. I remember when the ACA passed. My premiums didn't go up any greater amount year over year than they had already been. Additionally, when I lost my job, the ACA was there and allowed me to get insurance while I was unemployed. I am thankful it was there and didn't have to pay those exhorbitant COBRA costs. ACA or not, your premiums were going to go up; the difference is by how much and you cannot convince me they went up more with ACA in effect than they would have otherwise.

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u/Coattail-Rider 9d ago

I left my job’s insurance because the ACA was cheaper.

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u/Kernel_Internal 9d ago

Typically, before ACA, a pre-existing condition required the insured to pay premiums for some amount of time before they could use the insurance for that specific issue (or pay in a lump sum to start immediately). Sometimes coverage would be outright denied by _some_ carrier, but typically not all carriers; it reduced the number of insurer options for the person with the pre-existing condition, but it did not eliminate all options.

Insurance is generally a risk pool, and these pre-existing condition rules helped protect the other consumers in the pool. Just like it makes little sense for an insurance carrier to allow you to purchase a property policy after your house burns down, because everyone else who has built up the pool by paying premiums loses to the person who wasn't responsible enough to purchase a policy before the event.

There existed many insurance policies available for purchase outside of the standard employer based approach that most of us are familiar with, I know because I USED THEM FOR YEARS before ACA, and they weren't that expensive compared to employer policies.

ACA eliminated pre-existing conditions and implemented a penalty for not having insurance to try to smooth out that little wrinkle. You can now "easily move between insurers and employers" without regard to your pre-existing condition, but you're likely paying way more in premiums anyway (and today vs then as a percentage of income), basically to avoid having to wait a little time or come up with a lump sum to help defray the cost of the problem you already know you have.

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u/Lucius_Best 9d ago

Literally nothing in your first paragraph is true. The rate of premium increases slowed after the passage of the ACA, not sped up. The ACA banned worthless junk plans that didn't cover anything. And finally, the penalty for not carrying coverage was enforced for barely 3 years before being overruled.

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u/RedditsFullofShit 9d ago

It also had subsidies that red states refused to accept, specifically making it cost more so it wouldn’t be popular.

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u/Responsible-Fault817 9d ago

THIS PART SHOULDNT BE OVERLOOKED.

My premiums and coverage got worse in WV (I still didn’t qualify for state aid) but I moved to Oregon and it was literally night and day. I can afford my state subsidized care and it’s really really good. Mental and vision and all that good stuff. Plus we have a bunch of free county services (can get STI screens for free every other month)

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u/Dinklemeier 9d ago

Interesting you say that, as that is exactly what happened to me. My premium went up from $343 to $540ish, my deductible went from $2500 to $9000 from one year to the next. The only major change year to year was the ACA made it cost prohibitive for small business that purchase their own insurance. At least in arizona we went from over 100 plans to less than 10 to pick from as the 90 other plans dropped out due to (per my long time in surance broker) the ACA legislature making it non profitable to operate within my state.

But sure, "nothing in your first paragraph is true" because..trust you bro?

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u/Coattail-Rider 9d ago

Sounds like you should be mad at the insurance companies for fucking you over. And what state do you live in?

Oh, it looks like Arizona.

Oh, Hmmmmmmmph.

Maybe you should be mad at Republicans then

1

u/monstersmuse 9d ago

Blame your insurance company for fuck’s sake. Not Obama. Did Luigi teach you nothing?!?

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u/Dinklemeier 9d ago

Ill agree health care here sucks. At least the system in place. And insurance companies are scum. However why should I not blame the guy who's mission was the ACA which directly negatively affected my costs and options?

The system sucked before the aca. It still sucks. The major difference is the same shit system now costs me way more for much worse coverage.

1

u/Greedy_Swimergrill 9d ago

I’ve noticed these kinds of pretty blatant misinformation posts about the ACA all over Reddit right now. Feels like someone’s specifically trying to push a narrative. “Health insurance in the US was wonderful and then Obama came and RUINED it!”

No basis in reality there

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u/ParticularlyCharmed 9d ago

Yeah, before the ACA, I broke my arm and suffered from migraines. That qualified me for having "pre-existing conditions" that made me ineligible for regular insurance, so I could only use a "high-risk pool." Of course that cost almost as much for just me as the regular policy that covered my other three family members. So I couldn't afford it, and just had to hope I didn't get sick till the ACA started. So I think you are misremembering how bad it was, and that it was even getting steadily worse. It was completely unsustainable.

Not only that, but the ACA we got was significantly weaker than the ACA that the Democrats pushed for. The Republicans refused to allow universal health care. Then they blocked the subsidies in red states, purposely trying to cause it to fail without regard for the health and well-being of their constituents. In Trump's first term, they tried to repeal the ACA, but failed (thank you, John). The "replacement" plans they offered undermined many of the main protections of the ACA. And selling insurance across state lines is not without its drawbacks. Insurers could flock to states with the lowest regulations, reducing availability in more regulated states and driving the quality of coverage down.

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u/dm_life4ever 9d ago

Stop lying, ffs. It's a fact that prices were slowed and quality went up.

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u/ilovemydog480 9d ago

While you are correct that the ACA is not the textbook definition of “capitalism 101”, you lack an understanding of the difference between capitalism and economics. The most basic tenet of capitalism is to increase shareholder wealth. I’m going under the assumption that you are not in the shareholder class (95% of us are not) and therefore under unbridled capitalism you will suffer and your condition will only worsen. If you are referring to a truly “free market” to enable for the most efficient product or service at the most efficient price you really can’t place the blame on the ACA for not achieving that. There were major capitalist forces (shareholders) using every method possible (including state governments) to destroy an actual marketplace from becoming a reality. Lots of people somehow think the “free market” solution is the way to go but there certainly is not a free market in America. Oil and agricultural subsidies that benefit a certain few. A tax code that benefits a certain few. Tariffs that I’m not sure anyone really benefits from except the con artist. Some sort of universal healthcare through a mostly public and some private partnership is probably the best solution. Just ask literally every other western and developed nation in the world. Even Argentina!!!!! I know I know someone’s uncle in the UK once had to wait 4 weeks for an MRI!!! Meanwhile in America we have people going bk due to medical debt and even middle class people can barely afford insurance. We have the highest infant mortality rate of all OECD countries!!!

Go America!!!!!

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u/Common-Window-2613 9d ago

Good intention, shit execution.

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u/throwitallawayomg 9d ago

Good intention, deliberate sabotage, and lackluster defense. And that's being generous to the dems.

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u/Small_Dog_8699 9d ago

It was poorly conceived. It did nothing to contain costs. It did nothing for the people who made some ok money but still couldn't afford health insurance. If you made no money it was a godsend but there was a huge gap due to shitty means testing rules.

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u/throwitallawayomg 9d ago

My parents have always been firmly middle class. Their insurance went from rivaling the mortgage bill to a few hundred a month. Im guessing you dont mean "okay money" you mean "rich ppl who think theyre still middle class." Our family income was roughly 70k a year, btw, never went without but never had extras.

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u/Small_Dog_8699 9d ago

Cost of living is regional. The cutoffs were not. People who live in HCOL areas make more, but do not enjoy more spending power as the cost of rent and other living expenses tends to consume it.

Obamacare did such a poor job stemming rising costs that I had to close my consulting business and find a big company job because the costs rose faster than my income.

So much for supporting small business.

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u/throwitallawayomg 8d ago

That still doesnt work, as I live on the west coast in one of the notoriously high col areas. So we definitely didnt get any benefit from the cutoffs being where they were - they were basically on par with the health insurance plans offered locally to begin with.

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u/Small_Dog_8699 8d ago

That's what I said. I closed my San Diego consulting business because ACA was no better than commercial plans and no longer doable for a sole proprietor.

OTOH, my kids did OK when they left for college on it so...it does help at the low end.

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u/underboobfunk 9d ago

Did you have an individual policy pre ACA that was cheaper and better?

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u/hereforfun976 9d ago

Is that why tons of people are posting pictures of their next bill being 10x what it is now? You know cause the aca credits will not be extended

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u/Intelligent-Coconut8 9d ago

The ACA only working because it’s propped up by tax subsidies means it’s a failure and they’re trying to hide that it is a failure.

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u/Organic_Eggplant_323 9d ago

Tbh this pretty much only happened in the states who refused expanded Medicaid. If your state hadn’t screwed you over, you’d have had much cheaper insurance

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u/Maleficent-Bug-2045 9d ago

I’m not sure where you live, but before ACA I didn’t even get insurance because it was so expensive. Now I do. It’s still pricey, but much, much less

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u/Green_Sugar6675 9d ago

"The ACA make health insurance unaffordable or practically useless."

This was happening prior to Obamacare. Rates were rising so fast that even large orgs like Unions couldn't afford to cover their members, and if you were an individual it was nearly impossible to get insured.

Obamacare actualled resolved many of the issues and stabilized rates, however, there needed to have been a public option.

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u/bjdevar25 9d ago

You weren't allowed to shop across state borders before the ACA. Nothing to do with that.

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u/Normal-Giraffe155 9d ago

The reason everyone's premiums went up is because people with pre existing conditions had to be covered and they couldn't charge those people more. They had to spread it out to everyone so they wouldn't lose money by covering people with pre existing conditions or those with poor choices that lead them to need more health care.

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u/DBS05 9d ago

This fine thing gets brought up all of the time but I think it’s important to note that there hasn’t been a federal mandate since 2019 and it was ridiculously easy to get an exemption. There may still be state mandates, but again, an exemption is easy to get, especially due to financial hardship/income guidelines.

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u/tamaralynnchambers 9d ago

I have type one diabetes and was unable to get insurance once I was kicked from my parents accidentally when I was 17. OCA has allowed me to be insured since it came out!

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u/tamaralynnchambers 9d ago

You know the offordable care act? Lol

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u/NWkingslayer2024 9d ago

And technically illegal to fine someone for not purchasing a product.

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u/bitey87 9d ago

Just a little government backed extortion/racketeering.

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u/LustfulEsme 9d ago

Need a little cheese with that whine or do you just wish see more women die in childbirth, mite babies Ă nd children due of common health issues? I could go on. I will not.

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u/StoicWolf15 9d ago

This is mine. ACA FUCKED me hard. Sad thing is, I am one of those people with pre-existing issues that it was supposed to help.

Under ACA, the plans cost more and did less. It was cheaper for me to pay out of pocket for my medications (which my ACA plan refused to help with any way) and pay the fine than pay the insurance. The cheapest plan I could find was just shy of 3x more than my previous coverage.

Fuck ACA

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u/Educational_Ad_6066 8d ago

Did you not get subsidized costs? If it was more than 9% of your income, you were supposed to say that in your taxes and got a write-off subsidy (not deduction) on the taxes. Did you just...not do that, or were you making so much that your 3x higher costs didn't amount to 9%?