I was glad when ACA (aka Obamacare) passed. This country has long needed to do something about medical care for people who can't afford to buy traditional insurance coverage. But I never expected to need it!
I have been in the full time workforce for nearly 20 years, with a short break in middle to finish school. For the last 15 years, I have never been unemployed or uninsured. It's scary, but the prospect of managing Sjogren's without the insurance safety net is daunting.
My Cobra policy - where I pay full price to continue my employer's coverage - would cost in excess of $500. $200 per month is still a scary number, but it's more on par with what I pay to insure my car. In other words, it seems reasonable. There were some policies that cost less, but the list of doctors was "slim pickin's." None of my current doctors took the cheaper insurance.
The deductibles are high - any hospitalization is likely to bankrupt me, but at least I would be able to afford to keep my disease under control. And hopefully, this is only temporary until I get back to work.
For what it's worth, I can't imagine why our conservative leadership seems so determined to keep this out of the hands of the Average Joe. It feels an awful lot like elitism - as if people without access to insurance through their employers somehow don't deserve to have insurance at all.
