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Papers, Please: There’s A New Front In The White House War Against Obamacare
I was almost ejected from my health insurance by a system increasingly designed to drop consumers
Back in 2017, my husband and I became eligible to enroll in a Marketplace plan, the coverage made available through the Affordable Care Act. Yes, we’re talking about the nefarious Obamacare program that our Fearful Leader — in fact, the entire Republican party — is still trying desperately to kill.
Signing up for coverage was pretty easy. All I had to do was visit the Healthcare.gov site, looked at my options and chose a policy. When I finished signing up and paid for my first month of coverage I was almost giddy. No more turning over a mortgage-sized check each month for a COBRA plan larded with high copays and fees! A large part of my premium was covered by a subsidy provided for by the ACA.
I was far from alone. Despite direct attempts to sabotage the ACA (such as its successful effort to eliminate law’s penalty for failing to have health coverage) the number of consumers taking advantage of Obamacare’s premium subsidies has continued to grow, most recently from 8.2 million in 2017 to 8.6 million in 2018.
For years, the Marketplace plan worked beautifully. I had affordable health insurance and…