It’d be easy to criticize Obamacare — a lot of people do! The website is confusing to most people. That’s because there are these terrible things called “numbers,” an abundance of which might throw people off.
There’s also the matter of the healthcare.gov website having a lot of downtime the first couple of days of October, the cause of which can be directly attributed to the sheer number of people who want universal health care. There’s also the matter of this (essentially) being a state-run operation: the best analogy for the Affordable Care Act is that of a “healthcare mall” where the prices are out in the open and the consumer can contrast and compare. This, in effect, brings costs down for the consumer.
Like many people, I tried to sign up on Oct. 1, and, like many people (approximately 8 million), I experienced a particularly buggy website. I was repeatedly asked to upload a picture of my driver’s license. This, I found, was the point in the initial sign-up that many people experienced problems with; four out of the five people I surveyed experienced issues with that part of the site. After a few tries, I was able to get signed up. I had my username and password, and was good to go. Or so I thought. At around 2 a.m. on Oct. 1 (I work nights at another website), I got tired of 404 errors and stopped using the site.
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Fast forward a week later: I try again. Everything works, (almost) flawlessly.
I put in my financial information, zip code and age. Given that I’m self-employed I got a fairly sizable APTC (Advance Premium Tax Credit), I chose a more comprehensive medical (and dental!) plan with a NY-based company named Oscar. They’re one of many companies who are making the Affordable Care Act a lot easier to stomach (pun woefully intended).
Many people on Twitter and various other social media outlets are saying that “Obamacare” costs too much, with many outlets saying that the average monthly pay is in the vicinity of $350. This isn’t entirely accurate. My particular plan would have cost $417 … if I hadn’t signed up for the Affordable Care Act. Given than I’m self-employed and don’t make a ton of money and live in New York City (yay personal freedom! boo having my own place with a dog and a yard!), I’m only paying … get this … $97 a month for a pretty damn comprehensive medical and dental plan. Emergency care would have cost me thousands of dollars; now it just costs $150. Co-pay is just $30.
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Many Americans will most definitely fall into the same category: the tax deduction I get covers three-fourths of what I would have had to pay for the program if I had just payed for it out of pocket. Don’t fall for GOP lies: this won’t cost you $400 a month. It’ll cost you far less than trying to sign up for it on your own.
Confused? Me too. But if I can do it, you can too, reader. It wasn’t that difficult.
Thanks, Obama!
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