Like an estimated 22 million other Americans, I am a self-employed small-business owner who buys health insurance for my family directly on the individual market. We have a high-deductible PPO plan that allows us to choose from a wide range of doctors.
Or rather, we had such a plan.
Last week, our family received notice from Anthem BlueCross BlueShield of Colorado that we can no longer keep the plan we like because of “changes from health care reform (also called the Affordable Care Act or ACA).” The letter informed us that “(t)o meet the requirements of the new laws, your current plan can no longer be continued beyond your 2014 renewal date.”
In short: Obama lied. My health plan died.
Read the whole thing, but lots of those letters are going out.
It’s personal for me, too. Other than a hyperactive thyroid, now nuked, I’m in good health. So is my wife. And our two boys, knock on wood, have never had anything worse than a stomach bug. I would much prefer to spend less money on a high-deductible catastrophic plan, and pay for most things out of pocket.
But that’s not how politicians get the insurance companies on board. That’s not how you get the AMA (which represents fewer than one doctor in five) on board. That’s not how you get big pharma on board.
My paycheck was the bribe Washington came up with to garner just barely enough support to pass ObamaCare.
My preferences? My plans? Feh. What I — you, all of us — got in exchange for higher prices, fewer choices, and ultimately less care, was a mandate. We got a requirement. We got to be turned into milch cows for favored lobby groups.
Impressive Senate speeches aside, this is going to hurt.
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