By Nicole Sanders | The Save Jersey Blog
I recently decided to keep a Save Jersey journal about my personal experiences with Universal Healthcare aka Obamacare. My primary objectives: (1) helping those who have yet to experience changes in their coverage know what is coming and (2) remind those folks who are experiencing changes they are not alone.
It’d also be a nice bonus to remind everyone else what they may’ve voted for in November…
Ironically, two days after a segment aired on NJN profiling my own cancelled health insurance plan, the Healthcare.gov marketplace called me to “fix” my application problems! Apparently they had not verified my identity and, incredibly they had my name down twice. Once as myself, and then again as my fictitious dependent child.
If I ever name my unborn child ‘Nicole Sanders,’ Save Jerseyans, please remind me I said it was a horrible idea!
Anyway, the representative determined my application could not be salvaged so even though I suggested it months ago, they finally decided to just delete that profile and start a new one.
It was completed in thirty minutes and I was advised of my choices for coverage. They were as follows: the “Bronze” plan where I would pay forty percent of my health costs, the “Silver” plan where I would pay thirty percent of my health costs, the “Gold” plan where I would pay twenty percent and, last but not least, the “Platinum” plan were I would pay ten percent of my health costs.
I opted for the Platinum plan because as previously noted I have medical issues including steroid resistant asthma which, as its name suggests, my asthma does not respond to the best medicine used for asthma: steroids.
The Platinum plan came at a cost of approximately $350/month with a $185 tax credit because I am attending law school next year and had an approximate $1,500 deductible and $4,500 out of pocket costs. My current plan is $667.00/month only because it had skyrocketed after the implementation of Obamacare and I have no deductible or out of pocket costs.
Next, I went on to find if any of my doctors took the aforementioned plans. The billing department for my pulmonary doctor said they would like to take the Universal Health Care plan but they did not pass the credentialing and will not be accepted probably for another year. That eliminated my most important doctor who is the top doctor in New Jersey for asthma/allergy care. I called a few other of doctors’ billing offices, only one of which told me they’d accepted the coverage and that was my OBGYN which did not really matter because I am not pregnant or dealing with any chronic issues on that front!
I decided to call Amerihealth directly who informed me they could not look up if my doctors were going to be covered because they did not get the new contracts in yet. I asked to speak to a supervisor who told me that, as of today, my doctors are covered because I am still under my old plan but they cannot tell me if they will be covered under the Platinum plan mandated by Universal Health Care and will not know until next year.
Needless to say I am very frustrated and feel abandoned by the system, Save Jerseyans.
Americans are being forced to pay for insurance that doctors are not accepting anyway which, to me, makes it useless “coverage.” Right now, heading into 2014, I am looking at having to pay $350 a month to go to a clinic unless I want to pay out of pocket for excellent care.
Frank Pallone and the rest of the reps in Congress responsible for Obamacare have some serious questions to answer including why he lied to the American public about not only being able to keep their plan but now they cannot even keep their doctors.
