I live in Indiana. One of the states that proudly said "No!" to setting up its own exchange and to Medicaid expansion. I am a single, self-employed, 46 year old woman. I have supported the Affordable Care Act, from the beginning, despite its many shortcomings. At least it was a start toward reforming our system. But now, I have changed my mind. Nothing has been reformed. And we are all prisoners.
If we follow the rules, and keep a health insurance plan, we are still at the mercy of Big Insurance companies jacking up rates with no explanation of why. Do I go to the doctor much? Heck no! My deductible is $5000. My co-insurance is 40%. Who can afford that unless it's an emergency? And if we opt out now, we pay the penalty of $95 or 1% of our income, whichever is greater. Next year, it will be $325 or 2%, in 2016 it will be $695.
The insurance companies don't have to justify rate hikes to anyone, especially their customers. I just called to find out why my rates went up by $372 dollars this year. That may not sound like much, but I'm not able to pay my bills as it is. Their customer service, which is outsourced to India, directed me to the Marketplace to answer my questions about their(Anthem/Blue Cross) rate hikes. Understandably, the Marketplace rep had no idea why my rates are jacked up either. The Marketplace rep also had no idea why I have never been able to access my account on the malfunctioning healthcare.gov website. And all the next Anthem rep I called could tell me is that my plan is the lowest priced plan they have. and that they have to raise their prices to cover all those pre-existing conditions. They are laughing all the way to the bank.
Where is the accountability??? Accountability for the website still not functioning. Accountability for enormous premiums. Accountability for a company that outsources jobs overseas being the beneficiary of this windfall at taxpayer expense. As far as I can tell, the only ones driving this ship are the same ones who drove it before.
So where do we go from here?