"Thanks to Obamacare, I finally got the surgery I'd needed for 10 years. In Mississippi."

[ashtonelijah]

This is an article written by my friend Brian, who also lives in Mississippi where our governor and Republican legislature have done everything they could to render the ACA ineffective:

"Obamacare works. I’m living proof. I signed up for insurance through the marketplace in December, started coverage in January, and went to my first doctor visit since I was 18 (I’m 40) in February. That’s when I was told I needed a surgery that I should have had a decade ago.

In February, I got surgery, and – premiums aside – it only cost me $425 out of pocket. And that was in Mississippi, where the state government has gone out of its way to prevent the Affordable Care Act from working effectively.

Mississippi is one of the states whose governor and legislature fought Obamacare to the bitter end, rendering it useless for the poorest people in the country. Governor Phil Bryant didn’t take the Medicaid expansion, therefore creating a rift between those who qualify for Medicaid and those who are eligible for coverage in the insurance marketplace.

The reality is that if you make more than $5,400 or so a year, you don’t qualify for Medicaid. But to be eligible for subsidized plans under the ACA, you have to make more than $11,888 or so a year. This creates a gap for those who make between the two salaries, not allowing them to get affordable health care in the state of Mississippi.

The problem is that this creates less competition. Only one or two carriers offer coverage. Most doctors won’t take the insurance, which is a private plan for which I get subsidies based on my income.

This was the first year since the ACA passed in 2009 that I reached the eligibility threshold. I finally got coverage. And it’s affordable.

My monthly premium was $320.19. But because of the subsidies provided by Obamacare, I get a tax credit of $286. At the end of the day, I pay $34.19 a month for healthcare."

MORE:

http://deepsouthdaily.com/2017/03/23/obamacare-works-even-mississippi/

[dchill]

1. Obamacare works - even in a state...

that clearly does not want it to. Hear that, Paul Ayn?

[cbreezen]

2. I am so pleased for your friend...

Obamacare worked!

I am personally thrilled for myself because after 10 years with no insurance, I was given a clean bill of health at the age of 51.

Peace of mind is beneficial. The unknown is stressful, and stress is a killer!

[Doreen]

3. I am on Medicare.

However people do not understand that ACA is intertwined with Medicare also. Before ACA my Medicare would not let me get my knee replacements until I was 62 or 65 and I was 40. Well I was in excruciating pain and was getting to where I could hardly walk. I would had been bed ridden by 62. I had asked several times and got the same no to young. At some point the ACA got into that part of Medicare and a few years ago I was told yes and now have two new knees that do not hurt anymore and I can walk without pain..I can even walk up stairs without pain. Hell, I can walk. If it had not been for ACA Medicare would never have gotten that chance to help people as young as me get an operation that was needed.