I have spent some hours on line researching what Obamacare will mean for me and mine. My husband and I are both self employed, and for our family we pay almost $1600 a month presently---slightly mitigated by the fact that it is 100% deductible.
On October first the exchanges will open for membership, plans starting in January of 2014. And on that month, my family will pay $600 less a month with GOLD coverage. The choices are Catastrophic, Bronze, Silver and Gold, in that order.
It ain't single payer, but it is $600 less a month for good coverage, no pre-existing condition screening, important for us as my husband has one, and this includes keeping our son on our insurance. I'll take it. (These rates are specific to my state and one of 4 or 5 company/HMO exhange plans being offered so far.)
So last night we got together with three other neighbors who do not have health care through work, and are paying through the nose for it, and looked up everyone's options. They will all save at least what my family will, some more due to their ages.
I realize this is highly anecdotal, but eventually what my neighbors and my family found out yesterday, will happen across this land. Not to mention the doors left open in the ACA to encourage the evolution of single payer, state by state.
And that's what the right wing crazies are so very, very, very terrified about. All that time spent "chasing their Moby Dick" (reference from this morning's APR), all that Koch brother, Heritage Foundation, Club for Growth money, all the loss of credibility in the eyes of the American people, all the years spent on repealing Obamacare instead of creating jobs, will not only be for naught, but worse, the chickens will finally come home to roost for this extreme and greedy group of people who have been fucking things up since 2010, again and again and again.
Because Obamacare is going to work, and it's going to be better than what we had. in my case, A WHOLE LOT BETTER.
UPDATE: Just saw a montage of Obamacare lies from Fox on Ed. One of which was that "it will be like a food court where you can only get hot dogs. There will only be one plan and everyone will have to buy that plan."
This is a total and complete lie. It is not mis-information or misrepresentation. It is a lie. In fact, Obamacare will force the insurance companies to compete, and they're already hard at it. There are several companies' exchange plans on line, as well as the state's MNsure.
In the plan I was quoting here, that is JUST this one HMO's ACA offerings, there are multiple plans and options, from catastrophic to gold and other plans offer a platinum.
Each plan is different according to what you want to pay.
There is a diary currently about Chuck Todd and messaging vs. informing. This is one of so many cases where one doesn't have to become involved in messaging to inform.
When some pundit says something like this any responsible news person needs to correct the lie. Some do, but the truth is the ACA is big and new and requires study, and many on cable news seem too lazy to do that, as well as those who have no interest in doing that.
I think in the end, it will be the American people who educate congress and Chuck Todd, when they begin to understand how much better Obamacare is going to work for them then what they had---with the exception of course, of those who have excellent coverage through work. Still, you never know these days if that job will be there next week, so it's good for EVERYBODY to understand what's REALLY being offered through the ACA.