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Health Care Stories
updated: Mar 28, 2011, 10:22 AM

Late last week Rep. Capps asked constituents for health care plan change input. Have the changes in place helped you?

Here is the text of the message her office sent out:

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As we celebrate the one year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, I wanted to hear from you and learn more about how the enactment of this historic law has affected you, your family or friends.

The health insurance reform law was a major step forward in providing affordable, quality care for all, and put important consumer protection provisions in place. For instance, if we become sick, insurance companies are no longer able to cancel our coverage. Additionally, they cannot put a lifetime limit on our health insurance coverage benefits, which often causes the loss of coverage at the moment that people need it the most. Insurance companies are also being held accountable for unreasonable rate hikes. But these important provisions are just the beginning of what the law has reformed and provided for so many of us, and many more tangible benefits will be coming soon.

* If you are a small business owner, since last year you have been eligible for a tax credit of up to 35% of your payment of your employees' health insurance. This eligibility will continue through 2014 and the tax credit will increase up to 50% in the coming years. * If you are a young adult, you are now able to stay on your parents' health insurance up to age twenty-six, without any rate increases or coverage reductions. * If you are a parent, you no longer have to worry about your children being denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition. * If you are a senior, you have seen the Medicare Prescription Drug coverage gap begin to close and have been provided relief from expensive drug payments. You have also been provided with free preventive care services through Medicare, to keep you healthier, longer.

I want to know, how have these things helped you?

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Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 158494P	2011-03-28 10:38 AM
YES; all preventive care under my new insurance plan (modified after the new law) is FREE - no copay.
COMMENT 158496	2011-03-28 10:45 AM
We are able to cover our young adult child for a few years, under the new law. It still costs us money, but the coverage is much better for him - he would just have bought major medical, if he were to buy it at all. (which most 21-26 year olds don't really think much about, nor can they afford it). This way we won't have to pay the high costs if something happens. Which it won't.
COMMENT 158508P	2011-03-28 11:12 AM
My daughter, who is a pharmacist, told me that she recently got profanely yelled at by a person angry that a generic med was "too expensive." Says that 1/3 of the people coming to the pharmacy are upset and insulting to pharmacy staff who understand that it's not them, it's the health care delivery system in general. If we had universal health care people would just get the treatment they need without all this unpleasantness.
COMMENT 158514	2011-03-28 11:21 AM
Yes, I don't have to pay for preventive health care anymore (even though Sansum trys to charge us the co-pay). My brother-in-law is also able to go on his father's medical plan and the other brother will be able to stay on even if he is not in school full time.
COMMENT 158517P	2011-03-28 11:31 AM
Be wary of Sansum. They sent me to collections for copays I didn't owe.
COMMENT 158521	2011-03-28 11:46 AM
Yes, I was able to put my 25-year old daughter back on our family group plan, albeit for only one year. She has an entry level job in the film industry, with no benefits. It gives me peace of mind for a year, gives her time to move up to a position with health benefits or at least get a raise which enables her to buy an individual plan, which is supposed to now be easier to obtain. Too bad single payer never got off the ground.
TAZ	2011-03-28 02:34 PM
Yes, I just got on Medicare and being able to get lower cost for the one drug I take is incredibly helpful. It's because they pool the drugs and buy in bulk.
SANYSIDRO	2011-03-28 02:38 PM
YES - neither of us have family health coverage through employers. We pay almost $400/mth for individual health insurance plans for the three kids. We could not find any pediatric dentists for them that would take the dental plans that we were available with their health plans, and were told repeatedly (by dentists) it wasn't even worth paying for the coverage. Our kids are young, so we've been paying for exams and cleanings out of pocket instead. But suddenly this fall, my son needed dental work (long story) quoted (by two dentists in two places) at $6000 out of pocket. An office manager explained the new law about pre-existing conditions to me, and I found a new HMO plan that accepted him starting in January. The work is now going to be $3000 less out of pocket, although we have to go to Camarillo. (So what!! And we love them!!) That means we don't have to empty my older son's college savings account to pay for the work being done. And I stopped crying every time I looked at the paperwork. *Happy Face and TwoThumbs Up*
COMMENT 158586P	2011-03-28 02:39 PM
Yes, getting preventive care tests for free, which will in the long run save so much for people who won't otherwise get checked, is great and cost effective. That way any problems get handled early on, saving stress and lives of people affected, and saving tax-payers money that is not used in the more expensive phases of disease that has progressed unnecessarily.
BECKY	2011-03-28 05:18 PM
No! It hasn't helped at all. It was a bill to benefit Insurance companies, not to insure we all had access to reasonable, somewhat affordable health care. For most small businesses, health care is still so expensive as to be unaffordable. If you are in your 50s and have had any health issues in the past, the price is obscene and beyond the reach of most small businesses. If I went back to working for a big bureaucracy, my husband and I would have affordable health insurance coverage. Working for ourselves, it is completely beyond our reach still. This isn't good for the country, as it discourages the entrepreneurship that will grow the economy and bring new jobs. Single payer is the only fair and reasonable solution. (And I STILL don't get why health insurance is a for profit industry... It defies logic.)
COMMENT 158676	2011-03-28 06:06 PM
Affordable Care Act also cut benefits to the elderly and disabled by about 15%- any able-bodied person reading this proud to have saved money by the Affordable Care Act at the expense of the old and disabled? You want the old and the disabled to die so that you can have a party or anything? YOU are healthy!
COMMENT 158716P	2011-03-28 07:03 PM
it doesn't take full effect for another 3 years. And w/so many waivers and even Rep Capps saying we really don't know what the costs will be---well, you can't imagine that it's a good bill at this point.
COMMENT 158721P	2011-03-28 07:11 PM
Nope - our premiums have sky rocketed since the Affordable Care Act passed. It's very expensive to be self employed!
COMMENT 158758P	2011-03-28 08:58 PM
I agree with Becky when she says: "And I STILL don't get why health insurance is a for profit industry... It defies logic." It seems that we have a country that doesn't value its people.
COMMENT 158770	2011-03-29 06:24 AM
I have seen no change except that co pays went up and the company where I get coverage continues to change the insurance each year to give us less and less at higher and higher prices. The company I work for does not insure me. They did the math and could not afford it. Health care should have nothing to do with insurance companies at all. As long as it is for profit, I believe the mandated insurance coverage is evil and only serves to enslave us to bad jobs and prevent us from doing more interesting things with our lives, like get better jobs or start our own companies.
COMMENT 158794P	2011-03-29 07:50 AM
So more "free" stuff from the guvmint? Thats why this act is a success? Children can stay on thru college, no co-pays, free preventative care....and all at no extra cost....wow thats awesome! I wonder who is paying for all that? I guess it dont matter none, jus as long as I get my free stuff from the guvmint! Oh wait, I dont work for the guvmint and my premiums just went up 30% in less than a year! and we're just getting started. I guess I will pay for it by letting go an employee or two, I'll be fine....whew, that was a close one! Well at least my son can stay on daddy's plan with his wife and two kids! Awesome, totally awesome....still..I wonder who pays for this?
COMMENT 158835P	2011-03-29 08:40 AM
Yes. I was able to put both of my young adult children back on our health insurance for 3 more years which will hopefully be long enough for them to get more settled in life and be able to have a job with health insurance benefits when they are cut off at age 26. It is very hard for young people to get jobs that actually have health benefits.
SBROCKS	2011-03-29 09:09 AM
Sadly no. Last year at this time we were paying $1350 per month for premium. This year $1979 each month. Our 25 year old is on State Univerisity insurance and I did not try to put her back on. When I tried to change our insurance the co. would not let me without my other daughters (2 daughters)signature. She was in NY at the time. As a small business owner it is more expensive for us then our employees to purchase insurance, so we pay them more and not give the benefit. I just had knee surgery and have cleaned out my savings to cover all expenses as they wanted it all up front. Then the insurance pays and I wait for months for refunds. Please fix this. All our disposable income goes to health care. We are 55 healthy never get sick, except for blowing my knee out on the dance floor.
EARO65	2011-03-29 09:51 AM
This year, my annual physical was covered. I have always paid it (ignorance is not a blessing), tho, in retirement, it costs a fair penny. I am , however, a bit put off by the comments of "younger" people who suggest that those over sixty-five are getting their health care for free. No, we don't. We paid thousands of dollars over our working lives for the comfort of medical coverage when we were no longer working. We pay, each of us, about four hundred and fifty dollars each month, out of our retirement, for our current health plans. We still have co-pays. We also pay several thousand dollars a year for term care insurance. That is hardly what I would call "free" medical care.Those over sixty-five have no reason to appologize for their care under the Medicare System.
COMMENT 159027P	2011-03-29 12:42 PM
My insurance premium went up big time. Someone has to pay for the increased coverage of others. I guess that it's me...
COMMENT 159218	2011-03-29 05:48 PM
Not at all.
COMMENT 159956	2011-03-31 06:36 PM
No in fact my doctor says this law is a "disaster" and "a nightmare for patients and doctors." This is from a doctor who was originally for Obamacare. I guess we had to pass the bill to see what was in it and it sucks. Thanks Lois. P.S. On a different note, please don't ever blow kisses to the President. That was embarrassing during the SOTU.

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