Ahh-ha Moments and Health Care Reform

It costs how much to stick that down my throat?!

At least that’s what I should have asked last November at my doctor’s office. It would have prevented me from suffering a lot of pain when the medical bills started arriving a few weeks later, in total adding up to over $1,000. But because on that day it hurt to even put on clothes and because it took every ounce of energy to even get to the doctor’s office, I just sat there and said “ahhh.”

Being sick or injured is painful enough, but having to watch your bank account’s bottom line dwindle as a result of inefficient health insurance only makes it worse. The bills bring back the chills… and the feelings of nausea, dizziness and the sudden need to lie down. But thankfully, there’s another bill that will hopefully help remedy the situation, kind of like how a good antibiotic cures an ear infection. The alleged prescription: President Barack Obama’s health care reform.

The new legislation—dubbed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act— will soon start sweeping the nation in an attempt to clean up the American health care mess. The law is designed to help individuals like myself when it comes to health insurance. As an unemployed 27-year-old graduate student, I don’t qualify for the increased Medicaid benefits nor am I able to latch on to the amendment granting young adults coverage under their parents’ plans through the age of 26.

I guess I was a little naïve—even spoiled—after having consecutive jobs out of college that provided great health insurance. It didn’t take long to realize my current student plan was very different, costing more money for less coverage (read: for emergencies only). After two bouts with strep throat last November, I became aware of the disparity and in turn, more interested in any health care reform which offered affordable health care for all. But I was also skeptical.

I found that contrary to my original impression, there is a part of Obama’s health care law that caters to my demographic. One of the programs calls for the creation of health insurance exchanges for the uninsured, permitting them to seek and purchase health insurance plans designed to present an affordable and more competitive alternative to the individual and non-group insurance plans. In essence, access to insurance that provides more benefits and at a better price. The law also provides subsidies for people who purchase insurance through the exchanges, depending on the individual’s income level (which decrease as one climbs the income scale).

These new insurance options sound like great alternatives to having no insurance at all or an anorexic student plan. However, they’re not just options. Beginning in 2014, most individuals will be held to the responsibility of maintaining a minimum essential coverage or otherwise face a hefty fine ($95 or one percent of income in 2014, $325 or two percent of income in 2015 and $695 or 2.5 percent of income in 2016). This does not bode well for an unemployed grad student who might be forced to scrounge for pennies in sofa cushions in order to pay for this mandatory insurance. Seems like it might be cheaper to masquerade as a scofflaw in 2014 instead of a law-abiding and insured citizen.

Another stipulation regarding health care reform is that these new policies require the correct execution and stiff implementation in order for the intricate details to work as planned and for them to be the most beneficial. If proper attention is paid, the exchange system should help remedy an unemployed 27-year-old student’s health care ailments (both physical and financial).

But the 2010 status quo, and over the next few years, will remain unchanged. While the new health care bill might be able to help individuals in my situation, we are still cursed with investing in expensive yet limited insurance until President Obama’s plan takes effect in 2014.

And that’s only if all the pieces fall into place the way they are supposed to.

The new health care reform might work for me. But for the next four years, I’ll need to start asking before the doctor starts swabbing. Guess that’s what you call an “ahhh”- ha moment.