<rant>
They don’t have a clue. Do I think the Affordable Care Act could have been better? Hell yes. Inexplicably we’re having the coverage for pre-existing conditions potentially not being covered. Then I hear “some” wouldn’t be covered. Please, someone who doesn’t bring up the other political party, socialism or any other very unrelated subject, explain how this has anything to do with anything other than the bottom line.
Our insurance is largely bound to the cheapest bidder to our employers. I’ve had both shitty insurance that wouldn’t be useful even in the face of a catastrophic illness to premium insurance that I pay enough for that I could pay off my mortgage in half the time. If you have chronic illness, you don’t want the latter option, you absolutely need it if you ever want to have a chance at living above the poverty line. If your income is $35k/year and your individual deductible is $15k, are you going to the doctor before you completely cease to function? Can you afford the prescriptions if you do and if it can be treated medically?
Anecdotally, my wife and I were making enough to get by for several years. Barely at some points. I had a couple of blood counts that were off that should have been monitored closely. Copayments for lab fees are expensive and putting food on the table or gas in the car took priority - I was still a functional human being.
Things changed a few years ago. We started and continue to make good to moderately high income. Along with that we now have albeit incredibly expensive, but excellent health insurance. Those blood counts and maybe feeling tired sometimes could now be checked out more closely. Time counts with some illnesses. I’m not dying. Not right now at least. My lifespan will certainly be shorter. I’ll very likely need a kidney in a few years. I may need a liver as well. Things need to be monitored very closely and constantly. Courses of treatment change based on current information for when things change. The key thing here is that some things change quickly, but without constant monitoring I’d not know until things had progressed significantly. In the case of my kidneys, it’s not a case of if they will continue to get worse, but at what pace. I’m at stage 3 kidney disease right now. Stage 3 has a pretty wide spectrum, but stage 4 is dialysis. I hear that’s not exactly inexpensive.
I hope our financial situation doesn’t change. I hope our insurance coverage continues to be what it is. Since my issues are chronic, things really do need to stay the same. my lifespan will be greatly impacted by ongoing medical care and treatment. If it comes down to me getting treatment to slow the pace of the inevitable but leaving my wife with insurmountable debt to buy me a few more years to a decade, I’m stopping treatment.
</rant>