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Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Here's how that Obama thing is working out for us

Well, I told you all about how the President responded to my letter a while back. All smoke and mirrors, but nothing real.

At the time, I was upset that with all this great economic stuff happening, our family qualifies for nothing. And, as I pointed out in my letter, it was on the backs of hard-working Americans like my hubby and I that our economy would recover. Well, I now have proof.

First up: Obamacare. Our deductibles have now DOUBLED. For those who don't know what that means, I'll tell you. The amount we have to spend out of pocket before the insurance will cover anything is now twice what it was last year. For our family, this meant we had to spend $2500. I realize that some families pay more. But for us, that's a lot.

Then, because our insurance plan is a small self-funded program, they also increased our co-percentage from 20% to 30%. So... we now pay 10% more for our health care.

But oh, no, it does not stop there. Because they also no longer cover dental expenses, other than... wait for it... one cleaning a year. And that isn't even fully covered, as attested to by the $40 bill I just paid my dentist for said one cleaning a year. Which means, the $1100 of dental work hubby needs will be completely out of pocket.

And no, I am not done yet. Additionally, our family's prescription out of pocket expenses have also increased. We've gone from a $5 copay to a $10 copay, PLUS many drugs are no longer covered.

My estimate, based on what we've spent in the first quarter of this year, is that our family's medical expenses will INCREASE by at least $5000.


Moving on to TAXES.

I just finished our taxes. I won't tell you exactly what we make, but we are, by Obama's definition, middle class Americans.

Our actual income went down by $5000. Our taxable income went down by $4200. BUT... our total tax went UP by $1.

And okay, it's only $1. But did ya get the point about our income going DOWN? Yet we get the privilege of paying more taxes.

I dunno... I realize it's simple math. But so far, actual cash down the drain, we're out $10,000. Now maybe that's not a lot of money to some people, but for us, that's a lot of money.

Yes, the economy is bad, and I'm willing to own that it's not all Obama's fault. But I look at his healthcare reform, and all the promises he made with that, and you know... I'm glad that for some people, their costs got to go down, and others may even get coverage. But I'm the one paying for it. Some people are getting more tax breaks, and I say, great! Except I'm the one paying for it. I'm still paying a higher interest rate on my mortgage and can't refinance, because guess what? We are now officially underwater on our mortgage. But hey, we still have the money to pay it, so it's all good right?

I know Obama says that he's running again, and yippee for him. I just pray that either a.) he will stop playing these smoke games and deal honestly with us, or b.) we'll actually get someone in office who will. See, I don't mind giving money to help others. I really don't. But I do mind being promised better and getting worse.

8 comments:

Jill Kemerer said...

Uggh, Danica, I feel your pain. We pay close to $500/month for an employer sponsored insurance. It's ridiculous. That doesn't include co-pays, deductibles, and all of the expenses insurance doesn't cover. (I spent $300 out of pocket on my DD's sprained wrist last fall. She wore a cheap brace for a month! $300??) I'm just thankful we're healthy. If we weren't, we'd be broke.

Jaime Wright said...

Wow. This whole thing frightens me and as an HR facilitator at my job I'm SO LOST as to this new healthcare bill and how its all going to work and pan out and be implemented. Not to mention I just paid $4 for a gallon of milk. Here in the DAIRY state - that's atrocious!

Jess Tudor said...

Very frustrating! I've seen it in my prescription plan. I'm lucky enough to have a good plan with a low copay - until they started releasing the meds I need over the counter. Now, I can't afford them. They are supposedly doing this so that more people have access, but I don't think someone who can't afford/lacks insurance can afford the OTC price when I, with good insurance, cannot. How is that supposed to work?

I get upset looking at the numbers for tax cuts and how if we actually collected the taxes from corporations we wouldn't be in near the scrape we're in, but no, that money's never going to be seen from them. Or even Borders, to bring it back to our writing sphere, going bankrupt but saying it's still going to give execs a bonus? From WHERE?

Jana said...

Amen, amen and AMEN! I hear ya, girl.

Danica Favorite said...

ACK! It ate my long post!

The gist was that Jill, Jaime, and Jess, I completely relate to what you're saying. It's really hard watching all of our costs go up.

Re: tax cuts... I keep asking WHERE? Like I said, ours went up. And all of our other costs are going up while our income is going down. I guess in a few years, we'll be poor enough to qualify for something.

Re: Borders... I was SO mad when I read the article where they were trying to justify those bonuses. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have that kind of money, but it hardly seems right to give that money to people who can't possibly need it, yet be okay with closing stores and putting people who DO need it out of work.

Jana, thanks. Good to see you!

Stephanie Newton said...

Feel your pain. Our premium doubled and our co-pay went up--by ten dollars for regular visits and doubled for specialists. Woohoo, Obamacare.

And don't get me started on gas prices and how that's affecting the price of everything else...

Megan DiMaria said...

I love that you write to the president and share your letters with us. Go, Danica, go!

Danica Favorite said...

Thanks Megan. Not sure writing the President or Congress does any good, but maybe someday, they'll listen.

I just realized that I spent more on healthcare in the first quarter of 2011 than I did all of 2010. The sad part is that we used LESS healthcare.