THE OBAMACARE DISASTER IS PERSONAL FOR ME 

 

Last year late in the Spring it became apparent that I was going to need something major done to my knee. My wife and I had been paying for private health insurance for decades without any large claims or health problems. We carried a plan that fit us pretty well, designed to cover only major events while keeping our monthly costs down. We had in fact selected a plan that the President and HHS now term as sub-standard. We were in the first round of cancellations and lost our policy during the months leading up to the ACA web site roll out. I believe that the whole Obamacare law is unconstitutional and would choose to walk away from the Socialist mess if I were not 59 and in need of a new knee. Our private insurance carrier offered us a new plan at double the old monthly premium chock full of “benefits” that we could not possibly need such as prenatal care and the like. Seeing no option and feeling as if the government had just colluded with the insurance company to defraud me out of thousands of dollars we reluctantly bought the new policy. The political backlash against the unaffordable care act grew so rapidly and the web site worked so poorly that the President whisked out his famous pen and delayed the individual mandate. The administration then labeled plans like our old one as sub-standard as said that the insurance companies had been abusing us consumers with the low premiums and insufficient coverage. The delay of the individual mandate was accompanied by the states insurance commissioners being granted the right to reinstate the old sub-standard policies for a year. The genie was out of the bottle though and it was not practical to put it back. The administration new that the policies could not be reinstated and made what was in effect just a political move to shift the responsibility for the unpopular law away from themselves. I still needed the new knee and started into the process of getting the care. The doctor, a surgical specialist I had known for years and used before on the same knee, examined my knee and said “I do not know how you are walking on it now.” He informed me next that the insurance company would authorize only a special kind of rigid brace and not a knee replacement. Keep in mind that the insurance company reached this conclusion without any type of examination of my knee. I got fitted for the thousand dollar brace and used it faithfully for a few months but was unable to stay effective long enough each day to get my job done. I am self employed so this became a real problem for me and we decided to use our savings and have the surgery done without the insurance companies approval. My doctor said that the insurance might be willing to cover the procedure now that their choice of treatment had failed and he reapplied. Without any explanation or examination the procedure was approved and the only down side was the six months of pain I had had to endure. Oh and of course the higher premiums, co-pays and deductable. I had the knee replacement a week ago and went back to work fulltime five days later. I am not 100% yet but I can get more done than before the surgery.

The government has inserted itself into our healthcare decisions between the doctor and the patient. It has done so with no medical training and no track record of effective cost management or qualifications. The availability of healthcare got worse for me and the cost went up by double. It is time for the American people to rise up against all progressive politicians and put them out of office. The next step should then be to confiscate the golden parachutes they have set up for themselves and all the wealth they have acquired by selling their influence. The trials they deserve for corruption will probably not happen but it would sure be nice to see them pay personally for the mess they have made while we all struggle to pay off the national debt.