Power Line reader Mark Ingerson writes to alert us to his wife Sharon’s column in the Roanoke Times earlier this week. Mrs. Ingerson has worked as a registered nurse in Salem for fifteen years. Her column tells a story that has by now become familiar. Mrs. Ingerson liked her health care plan but, President Obama’s oft repeated assurances to the contrary notwithstanding, she is not going to be able to keep her health care plan. Familiarity should not dull the outrage the story elicits. Sharon Ingerson writes:
I am a registered nurse and I buy my individual policy with Optima Health. I love it.
However, seeing all the reports about canceled plans, I called them to ask if I would lose my policy. They said that next year I will.
My plan does not qualify under the Affordable Care Act because it does not include maternity coverage. I am a 41-year-old woman with three children (one with moderate-severe autism and mental retardation). I am not having any more children.
This is ridiculous. However, it gets worse. Optima gave me my options. Now I have a $2,500 deductible with 100 percent coverage after the deductible is met. The family deductible is $5,000. The plan costs $209 per month. This is not a substandard plan.
I have a health savings account where I have saved more than $12,000, so if my family needs health care, I can provide for them.
The new Obamacare plans are worse in every regard. They are not better and I do not save $2,500, as President Obama promised so many times.
Here is the closest plan to mine: $3,250 deductible (worse), $6,500 family deductible (worse), and the premium is an outrageous $674 per month (far worse). Essentially, I will pay $465 a month or $5,580 a year more for insurance. Obama promised the average family (I’m a nurse; we’re average) $2,500, but I will pay $5,580 more?
I’ve tried to log onto healthcare.gov, but it is a total disaster. I have called other insurance companies in Virginia and the plans are worse than Optima. The closest plan was a $4,000 deductible/$8,000 family deductible for nearly $600. That is not a better plan. It is far worse.
This will ruin my family’s health care options. I will lose the ability to save any money in my health savings account. Instead of saving for my family’s needs, I will have to give that money to an insurance company.
I will have higher out-of-pocket costs and worse coverage.
Anger doesn’t begin to describe how I feel. I urge my congressional representatives to support the president’s other promise, that “If you like your plan, you can keep it.”
This has to be changed.
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