Five years ago, I was diagnosed with leukemia. The first
thing I did was find a health plan that fit my needs — a “Cadillac” plan
because that covered 100 percent of my expensive treatments. While the plan was
expensive, it allowed me to focus on my health and to see the specialists and
doctors that I needed. Most of all, it gave me peace of mind.
Obamacare canceled my plan. Last October, I received a
cancellation letter. I was being denied my insurance choice because my plan
didn’t comply with Obamacare. I was shocked. Like the rest of the country, I’d
heard the president promise, “if you like your health care plan, you can keep
it.”
He lied to me — a cancer patient. After I received my
cancellation letter, I tried repeatedly to get onto the marketplace; it never
worked. I tried to call the marketplace representatives; I never got through.
I was in a state of panic. Without insurance, I can’t afford
the medication that keeps my cancer from growing. I simply could not have a gap
in insurance coverage. I paced the floor most nights, I couldn’t eat, sleep or
focus on anything other than trying to get insurance. I even pulled out my will
and updated it.
In December, I finally got through to a representative from
the marketplace. I was told I could only do a paper application — but it would
take two weeks before I knew anything. I didn’t have two weeks. I had to have
coverage now, so that I could get my medication paperwork started.
That’s when I gave up. Instead, I called an insurance broker
and enrolled in a plan that came closest to my discontinued plan. I focused on
my specialist and my medications. The premiums were cut in half, but much of
those savings were offset by an increased out-of-pocket limit.
Now, I am not sure if I’ll be able to afford the
month-to-month cost spikes that could accompany plans like this. I now have to
plan and think about what every test costs and if I have the money. I need
those tests in order to survive. Now I have to worry about that cost as well as
the cancer test results.
I recently told my story in Michigan with the help of a
group called Americans for Prosperity. Now people are attacking me and calling
me a liar. Some believe that I can afford the insurance because the annual
premiums will be lower.
Those people choose to ignore the problems inherent with
high out-of-pocket limits and prescriptions that aren’t covered for a person
like me.
My new plan could mean wildly fluctuating and front-loaded
costs in the first few months of the year. I chose my old plan — the one that
Obamacare canceled — specifically so I could budget for the same monthly costs
with certainty.
I have reached out to Congressman Gary Peters for help since
he is running for a Senate seat for Michigan.
He refuses to speak to me.
Instead of trying to help me, Congressman Peters tried to
silence me. His Washington attorneys have attempted to intimidate television
stations airing my story.
I actually went to his house when I learned of this to ask
him to help me navigate the Obamacare law, a law he helped pass. He didn’t
answer, so I left him a note asking him to contact me.
Then Sen. Harry Reid said — on the U.S. Senate floor, no less
— that my story is a lie.
I never asked for this. Obamacare has turned my life into a
nightmare.
That’s why I’m speaking out for the 225,000 Michiganians who
also lost their insurance plans thanks to Obamacare. Like them, I want a plan
that works for me.
Instead, Obamacare has denied me my choice of coverage,
President Barack Obama has betrayed my trust, Harry Reid called me a liar, and
Gary Peters has tried to silence me.
— Julie Boonstra, Dexter
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