Alabama mom’s open letter to President Obama.. Healtcare.. What a Hassle IMO

yellowhammernews.com...

An Open Letter to the Obama Administration and American Citizens:

My family’s journey with securing our new insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) started on October 1, 2013. I have decided to write this letter to let the American people know what it has been like for us. We are a family of four, with two little boys’ ages seven years old and three years old. My husband and I have had full time jobs for 6 years and 13 years respectively. We have been with the same two companies for those years. We are a middle class family; we own our three bedroom two bath house, we own two cars, and previously provided our own insurance for the four of us. We have coverage through Individual Blue from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama until 12/31/13. Our premiums have been $380.00 a month, which also included dental coverage for all four of us.

On October, 1, 2013 we received our letters like other Alabamians about our new premiums and plans for 2014 from Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Alabama. When I opened our letter to say I had sticker shock was an understatement. Our premiums for the Blue Saver Silver would now be $753.26. This included the ACA tax but did not include the additional $75.00 we would need to pay in order to keep dental for me and my husband. So we would need to pay total $828.26 to keep health and dental insurance for the four of us. This payment is roughly $64.00 less than what we pay for our mortgage each month. I was outraged that anyone thought we could afford this. Sure we have some savings, but with that price tag we would whittle it down to almost nothing very quickly. I consider savings as a rainy day fund, a start to saving for the kid’s college, our retirement, etc. I never dreamed in a million years we would need to use it to pay our insurance premiums each month – how in the world could this help the economy too

There is a saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease! By the follow up article it would appear she did get some decent results from her original letter. I personally think it is a shame she had to go through this to begin with.

karrikinder.blogspot.com...

First, I want to make sure there is no confusion - I am Karri Kinder who lives in Alabama. I did write that letter and I am also writing this letter. Every word of my letter is true. This is happening to countless Americans. I am now more convinced of that than I was when I wrote my letter. I have had so many people contact me with their own “Obama Care Horror Story” as some articles have named it. There were a number of other Americans just like us with such similar stories; it began to be quite eerie. I knew what I had done would spark conversation among the American people. I was speaking out and helping others to do the same. I was letting my children’s’ voices be heard, I was letting our story be told. But, as I realized I was also opening my family up to the court of public opinion too.

Once you put something on the internet it is always there, and while I never meant to do any harm, my words sparked anger in many of my fellow Americans. I could not understand it. All I was trying to do was to get the word out there about what was happening to us and what was happening to my children. They are the only ones who have mattered through all this. They were the reason I wrote my letter – I needed to be their advocate. I, as their mother, had to tell their story. And I am very glad I live in a country where a single individual’s voice matters.

reply to post by 727Sky

Once you put something on the internet it is always there, and while I never meant to do any harm, my words sparked anger in many of my fellow Americans. I could not understand it. All I was trying to do was to get the word out there about what was happening to us and what was happening to my children.

Why in the hell would people be mad at this lady when she is the one who has to fork out twice as much money now for their insurance thanks to Obamacare????
Because she let it be known what BS the ACA is and how it is actually hurting their family instead of helping them?

It's a sad day in America when people lose their compassion for one another, only to be driven by political madness
This political crap here lately has turned people nasty

Their angst aught to be against the politicians, not each other

I'm glad she posted the letter.....and hope the best for her and her family

The insurance companies are Nazi's- can we agree on that? They told Obama that the individual mandate would allow them to keep costs down, so lets' put the blame where it belongs.

reply to post by 727Sky


You need to post the whole story, she Got help and her insurance costs were lowered!

Karri Kinder subsequently posted followups to her original blog entry about her insurance issue, the update of 4 January 2014 stating that:

I do have some good news. Because I decided to write my letter and speak out, people stepped up and helped us. We were contacted on January 1, 2014 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I was told by the woman I spoke with that she had read my letter and wanted to get her team involved and see what they could do to help us. I recounted to her what was happening and that I had been advised to go ahead and sign me and my husband up for a plan on healthcare.gov. We went with a lower cost plan because it was going to just be the two of us. We had no idea what it was going to cost for the children once we got some answers. So we went with BCBS Blue Value Saver plan. The cost of the plan is $459.19. We qualified for $255.00 in subsidies so the final cost of the plan to us is $204.19 each month. I told the lady that I would cancel that plan if I needed to. What we wanted was to have all of us on one plan like we always have been. She said, "If the kids qualify for All Kids then I am pretty sure they have to go that route or you will have to buy them a plan at the normal rate." So again we were told more than likely we will have to go through All Kids. She took the rest of our information down and said she was getting her team to work on it and would either call us back or All Kids would contact us.

Last updated: 4 January 2014

Read more at www.snopes.com...

reply to post by Cito


I'm glad she got special treatment and I'm sure she is too...

How do the other 300 million people get a special team from the HHS to call them and get working their case?

However it ended...the way it began seems to be the start AND finish for 99% of people. I honestly am glad she got hers resolved......but even she must appreciate the fact her method is of limited use and may be a one trick pony.

This will be our story, too, if my husband's employer plan gets cancelled. Our premiums will be like adding another mortage or student loan payment into our budget. It will bankrupt us unless I manage to get a full-time job with a minimum salary between now and then. That gives me a year to achieve what has not happened for all of Obama's tenure, and even if it happens, the reality will be that all my money will go solely to pay for insurance.

Why should I be reduced to an insurance slave?

And before you blame the companies entirely, understand this is the economics of forcing them to provide plans that cover everyone at a moment's notice (i.e. once they are sick) and cover all the bells and whistles for everyone (making 64-year-olds pay for maternity, men pay for women's ailments, women pay for men's, everyone pay for substance abuse care, etc.). Packing all of that into a plan isn't cheap no matter what they all tell you.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I'm wondering what this "All Kids" is all about? Is this how they are going to mandate psychtropic meds, and vaccines to "all kids"?

This sounds suspiciously like putting "all kids" on the information and mandating track - and I bet the "public schools" are all in on this crap too.

I bet the parent is not going to have any parental discretion when it comes to "all kids" treatments.

reply to post by Happy1


I have no idea... I've got all the data tables and they contain all the plans for the various states under Federal direction of ACA healthcare options .. I haven't seen the "All Kids" designation before. Not as such..and I could swear in the material, it's being referred to as a proper name, like a program? Hmm... I gotta get some sleep but I may check into that a bit more..

Isn't that just the fun with Obamacare? It's not like a box of Chocolates as much as it is a BIG Onion. Every time you figure you're getting the layer off to see something....there is just another new layer. Always something new with this to figure in and ever doing a real comprehensive thing on it seems silly to try.

Cito
reply to post by 727Sky

 

You need to post the whole story, she Got help and her insurance costs were lowered!

Karri Kinder subsequently posted followups to her original blog entry about her insurance issue, the update of 4 January 2014 stating that:

I do have some good news. Because I decided to write my letter and speak out, people stepped up and helped us. We were contacted on January 1, 2014 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I was told by the woman I spoke with that she had read my letter and wanted to get her team involved and see what they could do to help us. I recounted to her what was happening and that I had been advised to go ahead and sign me and my husband up for a plan on healthcare.gov. We went with a lower cost plan because it was going to just be the two of us. We had no idea what it was going to cost for the children once we got some answers. So we went with BCBS Blue Value Saver plan. The cost of the plan is $459.19. We qualified for $255.00 in subsidies so the final cost of the plan to us is $204.19 each month. I told the lady that I would cancel that plan if I needed to. What we wanted was to have all of us on one plan like we always have been. She said, "If the kids qualify for All Kids then I am pretty sure they have to go that route or you will have to buy them a plan at the normal rate." So again we were told more than likely we will have to go through All Kids. She took the rest of our information down and said she was getting her team to work on it and would either call us back or All Kids would contact us.

Last updated: 4 January 2014

Read more at www.snopes.com...

If you would have read the opening thread you would have seen in karrikinder.blogspot.com... how her situation was resolved. Someone who knew something about ACA got involved after she wrote the letter not because she spoke to the personnel via phone at the web sight numbers listed.

Michelle Obama's Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the no-bid contract to build the ACA website.

Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of '85, is senior vice president at Canadian company CGI Federal, which earned the no-bid contract to build the (so far costing $678 million) Obamacare enrollment website at Healthcare.gov.
Townes-Whitley and his Princeton classmate Michelle Obama are both members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni.

Toni Townes, Princeton '85, is a onetime policy analyst with the General Accounting Office and previously served in the Peace Corps in Gabon , West Africa .

George Schindler, the president of the CGI Federal's Canadian parent CGI Group, became an Obama 2012 campaign donor after his company gained the ACA website contract.....

So just to make things clear by what I have read:

1.) No American companies were considered for building Obamacare's website;
2.) CGI Federal was chosen by good old boy/girl criteria and hired;
3.) CGI Federal was given a NO BID contract worth $93 million;
4.) A top executive at CGI Federal was a Princeton classmate of Michelle Obama;
5.) Previous company's experience was building a gun registry for the Canadian government;
6.) CGI Group was fired by Canadian Government for overruns that cost Canada $100 million;
4.) CGI has continued its practice of overruns as the Obamacare enrollment website has gone from $98 million to costing U.S. tax payers $678 million, and it's still going up to the tune of over 1 billion last amount I saw.

If my facts are correct does this bother anybody else besides me? Just business a usual?

And before you blame the companies entirely, understand this is the economics of forcing them to provide plans that cover everyone

So you support health care rationing that the republicans accused Obama of and said was evil? Doesn't that make you evil too?
It sounds like you also support Palin's "death panels" to me.