Remember that Obamacare supporter "success story" that wasn't?
That horror story of the Obamacare fail for the Federal Way mom isn’t the horror it was made out to be. They usually aren't.
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“Obamacare Under Fire: EXCLUSIVE,” blared CNN last Monday morning. A reporter did a live stand-up in front of the White House.
“Single Mom Touted by President Loses Insurance,” read the crawl.
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Except there’s a key detail none of these media outlets mentioned.
Which is: Sanford’s son was discovered to qualify for Medicaid coverage at a cost of just $30 a month. He has ADHD and, according to Sanford, it costs them $250 a month for prescription drugs alone. Which will now all be covered.
It’s true the rest of her insurance won’t get a big discount, as she had first thought.
“That mistake is totally on us,” said Bethany Frey of the Washington state health exchange.
But a bronze-level policy for a 48-year-old woman making $49,000 can be had on the state exchange for $237 a month, and a silver-level policy for $313.
So here’s a family that was totally uninsured for 15 years because it had always cost at least $500 to $600 a month for skimpy policies to cover them both. And what they can get now is full coverage for $30 a month for the son and scantier coverage in the $250 to $300 a month range for the mom.
How is that a horror story? Yet it prompted a live scandalcast in front of the White House by a national news network — which didn’t know, or maybe didn’t want to say, that due to the state health exchange the son now is getting essentially free health care.
Sanford says it’s still too steep for her to pay, so she’s upset, and that’s her call. But I just filled out my annual enrollment here at work, and my insurance, for a family of four, is $1,377 a month (of which the Times thankfully pays 70 percent). Health insurance is grotesquely expensive, and has been for years. The point is: If you can get it for $300 or so a month for two people — especially with a pre-existing condition — that’s no debacle, folks. It’s a deal.
The rest:
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022321213_westneat24xml.html