Share Your Story: Thanks to the Health Care Law...

Thanks to the health care law, my 21 year old son will be able to complete his education while still being covered on my employer health care plan.  My husband is a semi-retired physician who retired from practice 9 years ago.  At that time, he asked me to return to the workforce in order to provide health insurance coverage for our  family.  At the time, our daughter was 18 and our son was 13.  My employer covered our daughter, but every year I had to repeatedly provide proof that she was a full time college student.  When she turned 23 and was doing an elective as a medical student in a remote village in Mexico without phone or internet access, my employer dropped her medical coverage  even though my empoyer's human resources staff had assured me that she would be covered until she turned 24.  Our daughter's birthday is in August. On the Saturday of that Labor Day weekend, we received a letter of notice from the insurance carrier that as of midnight,  Sunday, August 31, our daughter would no longer have health insurance.  My husband and I were both distraught.  Unable to contact our daughter and worried that some calamity would befall her so far away.I sent emails to the entire corporation staff, beginning with the President on down about how we had been misinformed by human resources and that if the corporation truly cared about its employees, when they informed the insurance carrier to drop our daughter, the least they could have done was send a courtesy letter informing us of our daughter's loss of coverage.  I never received any word from anyone. We were forced to buy a Cobra to cover our daughter.  The Cobra was very expensive.Now that the Healthcare bill has passed, our son is able to continue on my plan until he is 26.  He will be able to graduate from  UT and complete law school without my having to provide any sort of proof to my employer.  I still feel that we should have had a single payer option and that health insurance should be tied to the individual and not to employers.  A loss of a job is now catastrophic because peole lose their health insurance and any health crisis can put the family into bankruptcy.

MY COSTS HAVE DOUBLED.  SO I HAVE LOST INCOME.  MY HUSBAND HAS NO INSURANCE AND WE CERTAINLY CAN NOT AFFORD TO PURCHASE IT.  LET ALONE PAY A FINE BECAUSE WE CANT AFFORD IT.  THEY WANT HALF, YES HALF OF MY TOTAL INCOME JUST TO INSURE HIM.  SO IT HAS DONE ME NOT ONE OUNCE OF GOOD.  NOW MAYBE REGULATIONS ON THIS GREEDY HEFTY PROFITING INDUSTRY WOULD HELP.  I ONCE PAID $70 A MOS, FOR A FAMILY PLAN.  NOW OVER THREE HUNDRED COMES OUT OF MY CHECK.  NOT ALL FOR INSURANCES OF COURSE, BUT A GOOD PORTION.  THIS IS SICKENING.  THEY CATER TO THE MONEY OVER THE PEOPLE.  WHAT  HAPPENED TO "WE THE PEOPLE" OVER THEY THE PIMPS AND PROSTITUTES OF CORPORATIONS AND GOVERNMENT?

While working, I was responsible for health care for myself and my husband who was self employed. When I was laid off from my job, like so many others, we faced having to get health care on our own. I was able to use COBRA and fortunately I lost my job just at the deadline where there was a cut in the cost of COBRA so it was still affordable.(Thanks Obama)  However this only lasted for 15 months and then the cost shot up to an unbelievable and unafordable amount for us so I had to look elsewhere. And by the way, others that were laid off after me weren't able to benefit from this.Having lived in England for serveral years I am in disbelief that we still haven't changed our system to Single Payer or a National Health System like most of the world. When Obama became President I had such hope that things were going to change, really change and although some things have I really hoped it would have been taken much further. I realise that these things take time and I'm hopeful that we will keep moving forward to a system that works for everyone not only the corporations and the wealthy. If everyone could live overseas and just experience another way they would be sold on changing our health care system. I know the system isn't perfect in other countries but it works much better for "the people".  We can always take what other countries have done and improve on what has already been laid out.Also, it is ABSURD that we have to rely on our companies/employment for health care. Think how this limits us as individuals for being able to do jobs we would like to do. For years this has kept us trapped and we need to break free! 

My son left college at 19 and was not eligible under our health insurance. He also was unable to obtain a job. For one entire year we paid for a whole separate insurance for him. He has many problems that require medical care and needs insurance. Thanks to the health care plan he became eligible to be on our insurance again until the age of 26. Given that so many young people are unable to find work in the present economy this is a life saver for many parents of 20 something children. Many people would not have been able to afford what we did.