strange 'cause it feels the same.

An open letter addressing the joke that is our current healthcare system.  Let’s start in the beginning of this year, when I decided to give the healthcare marketplace a go. As a 27 year old full time student and part time waitress, I did not have healthcare coverage and had not for years. I didn’t know much about it, but I was assured it would be easy and was excited to enroll. I went to the website and followed the directions. It was simple to use, you answered the questions and clicked to the next page - I felt hopeful. I entered in my projected income for the year, which just made it over $10,000.   After a quick and easy application I was delivered my options - of which there were 3. I ignored everything but the cheapest one - knowing I could only afford and really only needed the bare minimum. My cheapest option, chosen for my specific annual income gave me a monthly premium of $130. I was somewhat disappointed, $130 is steep - but can fit into my budget, especially if it’s for my health. But wait - that $130 is on top of a $6,000 deductible.  So let’s do math. I’m expected to pay 12 months premium at $130 which comes to $1,560.  I’m then expected to pay $6000 out of my pocket before my insurance goes into effect. Out of $10,000, that leaves me with $2,440 after my healthcare costs for the year. That’s $203.33 a month. Excuse my vulgarity, but are you fucking kidding me?  The government expects me to pay $7,560 a year minimum for my healthcare - and to live off of $6.77 a day.  I signed up for my healthcare plan because I thought it was a responsible decision for my life and I was grateful for the opportunity. I did use my healthcare plan - once for a doctor visit due to a pretty severe cough. I was left with a $300 bill and spent over $100 in prescriptions alone for the visit.  With one month of healthcare through the marketplace, I was expected to spend over $530, while my monthly income was at maximum $833.  I canceled my coverage, unable to justify the premium I was paying when I was still expected to pay $6000 before my payments of $130 a month even mattered.  It’s been about 3-4 months now. Today I woke up not feeling too well. I’ve been slightly under the weather for a few weeks and today I decided it was time to see someone.  Realizing there are no easily accessible health clinics in our area, I looked into out of pocket costs for Patient First. Costs must be paid at time of discharge and not knowing what tests will need to be performed, it’s impossible to know if I will even be able to afford the visit.  It seems that no matter what I do I will have to pay over $300 just to see a doctor - as a 27 year old full time student. As a last resource, I looked into applying for Medicaid, given my situation. I have changed jobs since applying for healthcare however I am still only making $9.25/hr - which comes to just below $15,000 annually.  I found my way back to the healthcare marketplace, where I was presented with a questionnaire in order to determine if I may be eligible for coverage. It said I likely wasn’t.  I shook my head in frustration and selected the option to “apply anyway - just in case”, however I was delivered an error message indicating that I was ineligible to apply due to my previous coverage this year. So, I can’t apply for low income health coverage because I was previously enrolled in health coverage that was impossible to afford. That is unless anyone has any budgeting techniques to make $203.33 adequately cover the living expenses of a 27 year old female for a month.  So here I sit on my couch, with the option of draining the little bit of cash I have stored away for a one time visit to a walk-in doctor - and praying I even have enough, or continuing the cycle of ignoring my symptoms until they manifest into something serious and I am facing this situation again - but with tens of thousands of dollars owed to a hospital. Thank you affordable healthcare act. Sincerely, thank you.