Republicans attempt to fool Americans into believing that Obamacare only helps a few poor people and a small individual marketplace. After-all, most are covered by employer health insurance. It’s a lie and here is why.
Whether you get your health insurance from your company or on the individual market, an Obamacare repeal will cost you and your family dearly. The article in the Chicago Tribune titled “If you have employer health insurance, an Obamacare repeal will affect you too” says it all.
One of the first things Tracy Trovato did — once she overcame the shock of learning her 42-year-old, marathon-training husband had leukemia — was look through their health insurance documents.
She dug up one paper that said the plan would pay no more than $1 million for medical services in a lifetime. The Chicago woman and her husband, Carlo, called their insurance company in a panic.
“Our first question was, ‘Can we take care of leukemia in a million dollars?'” Tracy Trovato said. The woman on the other end of the line reassured them, telling them, “The president took care of that, we don’t have maximum caps anymore,” Trovato recalled.
“Those were among the sweetest words,” said Trovato, whose insurance is through her husband’s employer.
Many believe that Obamacare served the 20 million or so who signed up on exchanges. They think they are immune to financial havoc a repeal would cause altogether. They likely did not know the following.
Obamacare is far broader than that. Scrapping the law also could change how health insurance works for 6.8 million Illinois residents and 156 million Americans who had coverage last year through employers, as estimated by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. “We view everything as being threatened right now,” said Kathy Waligora, director of the health reform initiative of EverThrive Illinois.
In addition to banning lifetime coverage caps, the Affordable Care Act lets consumers keep children on their plans until age 26; requires companies with at least 50 employees to offer coverage; and makes preventive care, such as health screenings, flu shots, breast-feeding supplies and contraception, free to those with insurance.
Obamacare also bars insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, though a shake-up of that requirement is more likely to affect those shopping for coverage outside of employer plans. Before Obamacare, a separate federal law generally prohibited plans offered by employers from withholding coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
It is the dereliction of the media, fake news, and the ineptitude of the proponents of Obamacare that have created the confusion.But now that you know this information share it and ensure your fellow Americans know as well. And call your Senators and Congressperson and let them know the only alternative you are willing to accept to Obamacare is a single-payer healthcare system.
(h/t DailyKOS)