Tuesday, January 14, 2014

ObamaCare

There was nothing but doom and gloom, dire predictions of meltdowns, flare ups, fantastic conflagrations, and maybe even the end of the World as we knew it.  Some may not have said so, but that is what they were thinking.  The world would blow up if Obama Care continued one minute longer.

Political big mouths and their mindless drooling lock step minions raised their voices, hiked their blood pressure and tightened up their sphincters hoping to bring us along on their partisan nightmare ride....................Why?



Personally, I think they just don't like me and those other folks who tend to not jerk our knees at the first provocation or agree just because claims were made.

So ................Well maybe I ought to insert a kind of interlude or pre mortem explanation for my lengthy absence these past few months.  Hmm..........  Seems I had other things to do or not do.  I was MIA then.  Hopefully I am back now for more than just a token post or too.  I actually took on my first real time New Years resolution pledge this year.  To try to bring some discipline to my absurdly undisciplined existence, I am vowing to write at least for 10 minutes every morning.............We'll see.  I tend to do okay under pressure when I fantasize lives may depend on it, but then I have not yet determined if this promise to myself hits that bar or not............Interlude over

So what was I talking about?.........Oh Yeah, ObamaCare.

My wife and I are self employed and we have been for years.  Health insurance has been a major concern and expense.  Each year it seems coverage goes down while the monthly bill goes up.  We juggled deductibles, dropped some features ending up with a $1000 plus a month health insurance bill with a $5000 deductible.  Between the insurance and the winter heating bill, a significant chunk of our take home pay was sucked into the belly of the beast.

When Obama first proposed the Health Care Act and then pushed, prodded, and jammed it through with the losers in Congress, BA and I were hopeful.  We anxiously waited for the sign period to begin.

Of course the Right opposed it.  Of course they locked and loaded every weapon in their quiver to defeat this evil Liberal ploy to turn us all into welfare moms and loser fathers who use food stamps to buy Mad Dog 20/20 by the case down to their local likker store.  And since the Right, is of course more patriotic than you, me or the rest of the 47%-ers, they knew this was do or all of us will die. ..........Sign up time kicked into gear and they somehow whined even louder than before.........Wow.

At first sign ups trickled, more like a tinkle barely a drop in the bucket.  Five minutes into it, the Right screamed, "I told you so.  This is a disaster."  My wife tuned out the madness and began to poke around, ask questions and generally try to get a feel of what to expect if and when we hooked up to insurance under the new law.  All I heard for the first few weeks was whining and this sucks, the flippin site is less than useless and dammit, nobody out there in the Internet ether seems to have a clue.

Being a tolerant husband, I sympathized and tried to speak soothing words with just the right inflection.  That was my job after all.  My wife fought the battles of frustration with Insurance, numbers, taxes, etc.  I was her cheer leader, sympathetic shoulder, her whipping boy.  32 years of marriage had settled the division of matrimonial labor.

Three weeks or so of getting nowhere, I decided to try to help out.  If both of us tried to get on the national site, it doubled our chances.  And whether or not my help was ultimately of any use, a week or so before Xmas.we were signed up - good to go.

Bottom Line or at least close by

Our basic package is better plus we now have Dental insurance.  That is very cool.  Maybe now I will hit the dentist more than once or twice a decade.  So what is all this high pocket coverage costing us?  Looks like we are going to save over $500 per month.  That ain't chump change.

I don't care what the idiots on the Right think, I am loving Obama Care 'bout now.

Later.................................................


4 comments:

Kulkuri said...

$500 a month doesn't amount to anything even noticeable to those in Congress that are opposing Obamacare, but for you that's a nice windfall.

When Reich-Wing labeled it "Obamacare", they screwed up big-time. For one it says Obama cares and they don't. When Obamacare gets going good and people see it is helping people get healthcare at more reasonable rates, all anyone will remember is Obama. It'll be something for the history books.

With some tweeking (not twerking) it can be improved, but the best improvement would be to get the insurance companies out of it and go with something like Medicare for all.

MRMacrum said...

I said at the onset of the bill being passed, "It ain't perfect, but it is a start. A damn site better than the nothing that was being done."

What we end up with is anyone's guess. But I tell you what, the doomsayers and malcontents all insisting it won't work is just them hoping for failure. They have no clue how it will work either. Maybe if the clowns on the Right had been more proactive in the process, we might just see something that everyone could live with. But I am afraid the leadership on the Right has only one tool in their arsenal, "just say no". Inhibiting the legislative process is not legislating for the good of the country, it is legislating for the good of the party and skewed notion of the new Conservatism.....Morons, everyone.

Ol'Buzzard said...

Glad you are back: we missed you.

You are the first actual person that I know of that has signed up for ObamaCare... This is heartening.

Been a hell of a winter hasn't it.
the Ol'Buzzard

MRMacrum said...

Ol "Buzzard - I missed all you bloggin fools also.

Had our idiot governor allowed Exchanges in the state, it would have been easier to sign up and most likely even cheaper because there would be more competition between insurance companies.

I don't know about the winter. Seems no odder than our normal "odd". Different variety maybe, but overall, just another winter in Maine.