In the fall of 2011, we received letters from my mother’s secondary health care provider advising us that, effective January 1, 2012, she would be paying an additional $300 per month for the co-pays on five medications she was currently taking. Two of those co-pays were increasing to $75, and three were increasing to $50. Previously, the co-pays were either $0 or close to it. I sat there, stunned, trying to think about what I was going to have to do to come up with these extra funds. On Social Security, mom only received $909 per month. I called her doctors and the insurance company and asked why the sudden increase? Their answers were the same: Obamacare.
Working with her doctors, we were able to change to, as much as possible, generics. Previously, she had tried to switch to a generic for one of her allergy medications; however, the filler was different, and she was allergic to it. I know. What were the chances? So we had to get a waiver to keep her on the original medicine. That wasn’t going to work this time, though. Thankfully, the patent had run out on this drug, and a new generic had become available. She wasn’t allergic to that one, so we saved $75 per month.
We switched to the generic of a second medication. That also worked with no problem, and we saved another $75 per month.
Mom has COPD and is on three different drugs/inhalants that she uses with her nebulizer. One of these was changed to a generic. Then, working with my mother’s pulmonologist, we found a loophole that allowed her to receive her inhalants with a $0 copay, saving the remaining $150 per month. No, I’m not going to tell you what that loophole was. Heaven forbid they should find it and close it. Then I’d have to figure out some other way to make that $150 disappear.
The total amount of savings was $300. At least for the time being, these creative ways of working around the system were going to save my mother’s life and allow her to continue living at home. What I truly wondered, though, was what was going to happen to all of those people who didn’t have an advocate, like me, to help them or a doctor with the time to have one of his staff find a workaround? I found that thought quite troubling.
I don’t want you to think that it ends here. It doesn’t. There’s more.
We received a notice, about a month ago, that the monthly copay on her secondary health insurance was going to increase from $39.80 per month to $62.00. That’s just shy of a 60% increase. Think about that. A law that was supposed to keep the high rate of increase to a minimum and reduce costs just generated a 60% increase in my mother’s monthly premiums. But it didn’t end there.
Mom’s in-hospital copay was $450 PER YEAR. That means that no matter how many times Mom went to the hospital during a calendar year, all she paid was $450 ONE TIME. As of January 2013, she will be paying $650 PER OCCURRENCE. One year, only a couple of years ago, Mom was in the hospital six times. Heaven forbid that should happen now because she’d be paying $3,900 in co-pays. It doesn’t end there, either.
When comparing her 2012 coverage vs. her 2013 coverage, I found the following increases, again, all due to Obamacare:
Mom’s eye-care co-pays changed. Previously, annual eye exams and glasses were free. Now she would be subject to a co-pay for eye exams and a deductible for glasses of $200.
All drug co-pays dramatically increased.
The co-pays for doctor’s visits, including both her primary health care provider and specialists, dramatically increased.
The emergency room co-pay dramatically increased.
My mother now has dental coverage. Two cleanings per year for free. She can receive some xrays free and a complete set of xrays free every three years. That would be wonderful if my mother had teeth.
What we don’t know: There will be an increase in the monthly Medicare premium. Right now, it’s close to $100 per month. In spite of my efforts, I’ve been unable, thus far, to find out how much that increase is going to be. I shudder to think what it’s going to go up to based upon the amounts of all these other increases for 2013.
I do what I can to keep my mother healthy. First of all, I make sure she takes her medications daily. Second, I have her on two liquid vitamin supplements that are incredible. One helps to keep her body healthy. The other one helps her bones (she has Osteoporosis). I also had the house carpeted with an extra thick pad so that now when Mom falls, she doesn’t break anything. I’ve done my very best; and the taxpayers of this country should be grateful because if I didn’t do everything I do for her, Mom would be in a nursing home, and the taxpayers would be picking up the tab. Me? If you’ve read my previous articles, you’d see that I definitely follow my own philosophies. Mom does better at home, psychologically; and I do better knowing that she’s here and well taken care of (and I like having her around.)
Insofar as Obamacare is concerned, many elderly care facilities are going to have to close. Obviously, you can see from my statements here that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s much more expensive. It’s also much more intrusive. When the bill was passed, I received a summary in the form of an email. Are you aware of the fact that the government now has the right to come into your house and teach you how to parent your children? And they can do this in direct contradiction to your moral and religious beliefs. That was just one of the parts of this new law I found shocking. Most of our representatives, both in the House and Senate, never read those 2700 pages. I know I haven’t. Have you? Here’s another problem: I did read part of the bill. It’s written in legal mumbo jumbo. While that’s wonderful for lawyers, it does nothing for us, the common people. We need to insist that all laws, whether state, local, or federal, be written in such a way that anyone with an 8th grade education can understand them. Furthermore, no law should be passed that is longer than, say, twenty 8-1/2 x 11 inch pages, double spaced. A 2700 page law is ridiculous and, I’m sure, was created on purpose to make it seem like an insurmountable task to either read or understand. These are just a couple of ideas I wish could become law. Otherwise, how will we ever understand what our legislators are trying to do to us?
Obamacare needs to be repealed and rewritten in a much simpler form so we all can understand it. It’s not the bill of goods the American People were sold. Just because we didn’t replace the President, and just because the Senate is still going to be controlled by the Democrats, we need to keep up the pressure to get rid of this monstrosity. Please contact your legislators today. Find petitions to sign. If you don’t, Obamacare will be fully implemented, and we will be the losers. One final word:
From this point forward, I am no longer going to refer to the Affordable Care Act as Obamacare. I am going to call it OSAMAcare because, in reality, it is an act of terrorism that has been perpetrated upon the American People. It is, perhaps, the utmost form of medical and health care terrorism. People are going to die from lack of care and long waits for tests and treatment, just like they do in Europe and Canada. Osamacare is going to kill far more than the 3,000 people who died on September 11, 2001. In the end, it will kill millions; and the terrorists in Washington, D.C., along with those who wrote the bill, will be responsible.
Photo credit: terrellaftermath
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re the new health care law: “…it is an act of terrorism that has been perpetrated upon the American People.”
That sums it up perfectly!
Great article!
Debra…
Informing Christians
The goal is to do away with the old folks because they are no longer productive….that is the Marxist way.
I am not too smart a person, but who told you that obamacare was free? that was never a part of it. nothing is free anymore. What part of obamcare went into effect in 2011? NOthing that i know of . Premimuns on supplemental insurance has been going up ever since the government got invoved. In 2011 my supplemental went up three times. Please some answser the above questions. that is interesting to me and somehting i never heard. as far as insurance, yes it went up and will still goo up. if you have many medical problems you will find medicare, which is very good, is not enough to pay the bills.
Guess your not on medicare…..in 2011 I was in the hospital for three days, doctors could not find problem, mucho pain in the back which I told them was a kidney stone, but alas, they did not believe it….after the first 24 hours, Medicare paid only for the room and one doctors visit per day, I used my own meds, and paid the difference……Obama lied about everything to get a bill passed that he had no idea what was in it, or Peloski would not have told the congress, just sign it and read it later……so you see, obamacare was in effect in 2011…and the 2013 medicare is already outdated…..oh, and two weeks later, I had the stone removed, that was a one day surgey.
Obama wasn’t fully implemented in 2011 but some parts of it did go into effect. Full implementation is scheduled for 1/1/2013.
I never stated anything about Obamacare being “free.” We received the notifications in late 2011 for implementation in 2012. Parts of Obamacare have definitely started to take effect already with full implementation scheduled for 1/1/13.
Obamacare premiums will be very high primarily because the government have given out so many waivers. They’ve given out thousands of them. For this program to be successful everyone would have to be enrolled. As these waivers are given out the premium goes higher.
Obamacare has and will never be free, in fact it will be more expensive, more invasive and furthermore all insurance premiums will be pushed up to the maximum limit. My insurance Plan F was pushed up 3 times in 1 year – as has my BC/BS and my delta Dental twice. I am now told that I have to have Medicaid and Plan d… I will not be able to carry on like this as, I think many old people feel. this is the opening that the government is hoping for to put their stamp of approval onto euthanasia for old people or the death camps which are already waiting for the first input of poor old people. The NWO is hellbent and determined to cull the old people and abort the young in the womb to keep the population down. We live in terrible times. I certainly wish that I knew what the loop holes are because the Department of health in Oklahoma, it would appear, is no longer willing to help me with my HIV medication even though I am 72 and on SS. GOD HELP AMERICA.
But – I kept hearing all those people praising Obamacare claiming it was going to give them free healthcare. What happened to free and affordable healthcare??????
Nothing is free and that’s the point. If someone receives something “free” from the government, it’s only because someone else, some productive taxpayer, paid for it.
The medical world is doing great. Collecting more money than they can legally spend so they are taking out ads. My newspaper, this morning, had at least 6, maybe even 8 – I didn’t count – full page ads about their services. Have you checked the cost of full page ads. OMG. Also, hospitals are going into real estate big time. I pulled up a map of our local hospital and the real estate they own and was totally blown away.
AARP found out quickly that they could make over $20 BILLION dollars a year through Obamacare by selling insurance. They dumped the seniors they were supposed to be representing and signed on with the White House and Obamacare. Most of the people I know have dropped membership in AARP. I continue to get emails and post office mail from them and I put both in the trash where it belongs.
Things get worse each and every day.
I also have COPD, been being treated for about 3 years.. now on oxy therapy 24/7, I just turned 69 and doctor advised me to accept hospice.. I dont feel like I am dying, I just cant get better..and I guess will get worse..I use 3 inhalers and now a nebulizer again..I had to find a way to exist so I agreed.. I have the Medicare Advantage Obama is killing, but now hospice covers everything I guess or so they say.. you sign over your medicare hospital part A, but I might be better off as they provide my needs to keep me comfortable….so they say…they dont do for my ulcer and other ailments..just COPD.. I have seen the new
Medicare will be about $125 month out of my $600 SS..for me if I can continue the benefits and can remain
in my own home, its a good price for me..I prefer to be here…people with diabetes, copd, MS and cancer will be put on hospice from my understanding
I found out this year that Obamacare isn’t just bad for your health insurance but for ALL of your insurance! When our home owner’s policy came up for renewal a few months ago I noticed a large increase in the premiums and called our agent about it as I thought surely there is some mistake. I was told that every policy that our carrier supplied was going up to help cover the coming costs of the Obamacare bill. Made sence to me when I thought about it but there was nothing that I could do to reduce the cost and sure enough when our auto policy renewed there was another increase. I checked around and learned that our carrier wasn’t the only ones that were raising their rates and the reasons for all the increases were the health care “mandates” that were kicking in January 1st! This Obamacare “mandate” will increase ALL insurance no matter what the insurance is for. I am now watching our life insurance policy to see what happens for it. This “mandate” must be repealed by whatever means posible! Mandate defination; to order or require; make mandatory; a command or authorization to act in a particular way on a public issue given by the electorate to its representative. Notice that all of the definations say nothing about the vote or voice of the general public, this increase was FORCED on us by our government. To those that support this mess, keep in mind that you too will pay this increase one way or another! Loss in wages, increased prices at the pumps, grocery stores, pharmacies, higher costs for clothes, shoes, toliet paper, electricity, water, and on and on. Also consider the inflation that is going to hit us as well. The financial depression will look like child’s play….
I did forget this one bit of news I was told..cos I was and am pretty miffed with AARP who I thought was a good guy..all my insurance is AARP/United Healrh Care, and the money they spend on advertising is maddening.. Here in Texas they are buying up clinics such as TexasMed and WellMed and others and then
I was told they just purchased this same hospice I am now in…wake up america,,,this is why AARP jumped into the Pres back pocket..
someone in here said old people will die under this farce of medicare, in Florida way too many old people voted this scumbag back in thinking this filthy monster killer was looking out for them, I tried as I might to talk to seniors around me, but wouldn’t listen, I even asked them if they wanted a dictator for a leader, and live under marxism, most wouldn’t believe it!!!!!!!!!! so what can you say except I told you so, now you will be left to die!!!
Dems/Libs/Progressives use scare tactics on the elderly. They tried to paint Romney-Ryan as people who wanted to end Medicare as we know it, which is a blatant lie. There are two funds that channel money into Social Security. One will go dry in 2016 and will mean that everyone on SS will receive a 25% cut in benefits. And that’s just Social Security. Obama really did take $716 billion over 10 years to fund Obamacare. You can’t tell me that that’s not going to affect patients. You have doctors who are planning to quit or retire in vast numbers, you have more patients entering the system, doctors are going to receive less money for treating Medicare patients and will simply refuse to treat them any more, so how can you say that things are going to improve? Of course, you can’t. So you instill fear in the vulnerable, the elderly, and make them vote for a program that you know will ultimately lead to the death of millions. Welcome to the New America. Planned Parenthood is necessary to the Obama Agenda. Death camps? No. Death panels? Yes. Voluntary euthanasia? We already have it in two states. Government mandated euthanasia? It’s just around the corner just as mandatory abortions for children with detected health care issues via mandatory screening. Now, it will simply be suggested that you abort your baby. Later, it will be determined that the child will be a drag on society and you will be forced to have that abortion. We started down this road with Roe v. Wade. People have no idea what’s coming. Personally, it scares me and there is a lot to be frightened of, hence, my conclusion that all of this is simply another form of domestic terrorism.
Sorry. That figure was $716 TRILLION. My mistake.
Nope. $716 BILLION was correct. I was right the first time.