The bill has passed and you are finding out what isn’t in it.
Via Cleveland Com:
You could excuse Gwendolyn Harris for thinking she was finally getting some breathing room.
The 51-year-old Clevelander has a $9-an-hour-job in the health care industry and Medicaid coverage. Then she took on another job, working part time helping people enroll in health insurance.
Harris said she never thought helping others get coverage could affect her own care. But that’s exactly what happened.
The part-time job at Universal Health Care Action Network put her above Medicaid’s income threshold, and therefore ineligible for coverage.
“You know, I’ve heard people say it’s better just to stay poor,” Harris said. “But that’s not the solution. That is not the solution for me.”
Gov. John Kasich’s administration, which has expanded Medicaid coverage, has also encouraged people to pursue jobs and get off the government rolls. In that sense, Harris is a success story — until you consider what happened next.
She began to look for subsidized insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the federal law that has expanded coverage to millions of Americans. Harris said she has a chronic health condition that is going to require surgery soon, so she wanted to find something comprehensive.
What she found under Ohio’s options was a plan with $405 monthly premium, a $2,000 deductible, and a maximum of $6,600 in out-of-pocket costs. The government subsidy brought the total premium down to $334 a month, but she said the discount is not enough to make it affordable.