People continue being helped by Obamacare — and it’s a winning issue. Politicians and pundits, take note.
When City of Detroit retiree Cora Dolley learned that she’d no longer be receiving health insurance coverage from the City, she was worried. For 10 years, $150 had been deducted from her pension check to cover hospitalization expenses and provide other healthcare services at a low cost.
But the benefits Dolley had been promised were taken away, just like that.
The City gave us $125 a month to go buy some healthcare. That’s cruel. Without Obamacare, I would never have known I was eligible for tax credits and I’d have to pay a lot more.
When she learned she’d have to pay her own way starting March 1, Dolley immediately turned to an Affordable Care Act (ACA) navigator in her area. That’s where she learned she was eligible for a tax credit and got all the help she needed signing up.
Dolley chose a Silver plan from Blue Care Network — the same company she’d been insured by before — and pays just $187 per month instead of the $600 it would have cost without the tax credit. Once she applies the $125 stipend from the City of Detroit, her premium costs just $62 per month.
With her new plan, Dolley’s deductible is less than $2,000 and her co-pays for doctor’s visits and medication are only slightly higher. But she had a choice — and made an educated one, something she wouldn’t have been able to do without the ACA because of pre-existing conditions.
The cost went up a little bit with the Silver plan, but I wanted to pay more every month instead of having a huge bill if I get sick. I don’t want someone to have to help me pay if I get sick.
Dolley still worries about money, because “now they’re coming after my pension check,” she says. But Dolley and millions of others no longer have to fret about the cost of healthcare.
A lot of retirees got help from Obamacare — the timing was good. I volunteered to spread the word about enrollment by knocking on doors and making phone calls, because there are millions of people in this country without insurance. That’s abominable.The Affordable Care Act has helped me, it’s helped a lot of City workers and it’s helping millions of others.
These are the stories Democrats need to keep telling. Republicans continue pushing to repeal or dismantle Obamacare, and Democrats need to remind everyone that a vote for Republicans is a vote to take health insurance away from people like Dolley. People like her have lost enough already. Democrats winning in November means protecting millions of hard-working Americans just like her.
