OK...so this takes a bit of explaining...buckle up and bear with me.
We begin in 2017...last year. I had a decent Silver Plan with BCBS North Carolina. It was costing me, after subsidy, about $53 a month...which I could barely afford, but I was managing. With this plan, I could see my PCP for $20 and it did not count against deductible.
Because Trump screwed with the CSR payments (Cost-Sharing Reduction) at just the right time last year, insurance companies jacked their rates to hell. The effect, on me...was that the decent plan I had last year (and could barely afford) this year, 2018...was going to cost me...even with an increased subsidy...$175 a month out of pocket.
I do not know many who could just come up with an extra $120 a month out of nowhere...particularly when you made exactly $800 too much last year to qualify for Medicaid...so I was forced to drop to a lower Bronze Plan...which cost me $0 a month out of pocket. No choice in between the zero plan I did not actually want..and the $175 plan that was well out of my reach.
The reason for not wanting the zero plan...is that it carries a $6650 deductible before it will pay dime one for anything...not a doctor visit, not a bottle of my thyroid medicine (and this is the crux of my problem, by the way)
You see...I could afford, out of pocket, the relatively cheap thyroid medication. What I cannot afford is the very expensive doctor office visit and labs needed to get the damn prescription...for the relatively-cheap thyroid medication...and with a $6650 deductible, it means I’d have to pay this doctor visit out of pocket (which I can’t afford) — so, effectively, I have no health insurance...although on paper, I do...so I will not be counted as one who lost their health insurance because of Donald Trump...but it’s exactly what effectively happened to me.
And the only reason to have this insurance...which is insurance on paper only...is avoidance of the tax penalty...which is still in play for this year...only NEXT YEAR does the tax penalty go away under the Trump Tax Scam.
Because ON PAPER I have health insurance, I am told by just about every charity care that I first have to use my insurance. meaning I have to pay out of pocket for a visit and I can’t afford it.
Here is my problem:
I am a diabetic. I got diagnosed three years ago. I lost about 150 pounds and got it under control, no insulin or other medication needed. But because I now can’t have my thyroid medication, I am gaining weight back...which will cause me to lose control of the diabetes!! Not to mention it is depressing the absolute hell out of me to see all the progress I made being undone because of this.
I have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis….which if left untreated too long, can progress to Graves Disease...which is lethal. And I need this thyroid medicine for life. No way around it. BUT...I still have to, every six months...get a new prescription...thus expensive doctor office visit and labs...you see the problem here??
And this is how Donald Trump has totally screwed me out of any and all healthcare, even charity care. And how he literally could be the cause of my death! Because..if not for the tax penalty for this year...I would not have signed up for ANY healthcare at all...and BCBS-NC would not be getting a gift of $6K from the Federal Government in the form of subsidy payments...in order to provide me absolutely no healthcare whatsoever...and if I did not have insurance ON PAPER...then I could get charity care...and help!!
All I want and need here is some doctor who will see me cheaply….or free...minimal exam, just enough to get a lab for a continued thyroid prescription, which I could the pay for out of pocket. My obstacle is the $200-$300 doctor office visit standing in the way of that needed prescription for medicine it is already known I will need for life. Nothing a doctor office visit will tell that is not already known here.
Right now, I am in the middle of paying payments to an attorney for bankruptcy. I am not willing to go to a doctor, and use the insurance...and generate a bill I know I will bankrupt out of, because it just isn’t honest or fair to the doctor.
I just need to get back on that medication, so that I do not gain any more weight...and can re-lose what I gained back...so as to keep my diabetes well-managed. The whole situation is depressing me so badly I am barely able to function. I do suffer from chronic lifelong depression...but a trigger is needed...and this situation is triggering it.
Donald Trump could be responsible for my death...or for at least a shortened life..because he had to screw around with healthcare that WAS WORKING.
And that is where I am at. I am in Wake County (Raleigh area) of North Carolina. Desperate for help...so I can get back on needed medicine, and thus not lose the progress I made with my diabetes. I need some way to get the prescription. If I can get that, I CAN pay for the thyroid meds out of pocket. They cost about $15 a month. It’s the expense of getting the prescription that is my problem.
I am betting a lot of other people in the country are in a similar boat to mine this year. A lot of us EFFECTIVELY lost out health insurance, but will not be so counted, because ON PAPER we do have it...if only to avoid a tax penalty we could not afford. A serious all-around screw...that also precludes us from most charity care...leaving us no choice other than to completely go without ANY healthcare.