Cat scratch fever 2

Well, the changes to the insurance industry mandated by Obamacare have trickled down to this redneck.

For having to do this much research, I sure wish that I could get a Pulitzer.  We all know that isn't going to happen.  So, I am stuck with a deductible that is so high, there is no reason to have insurance and then an "out of pocket" co-pay that I have to pay after the insurance company has paid 80% of my claim.

Got that?

Neither do I.

Let's review - insurance is something that you pay for, a little bit at a time, so that when an accident happens your entire life isn't destroyed.

Apparently, it doesn't work that way anymore.

I have had insurance my entire life and the only change that I have heard about or noticed is Obamacare.  I have even had accidents before, I have used the insurance before, members of my family have had surgeries before.  Each time, we paid a small, manageable deductible.  It was no big deal.

Recently, I had an accident involving a stray cat.  (Please see previous post, Cat Scratch Fever.) I contracted a bacterial infection, went to the emergency room and spent 3 days in the hospital receiving IV antibiotics.

The bills have started arriving - we are getting tagged with $5,720 in "out of pocket" co-pays and deductibles.

This has never happened before, I have had insurance my whole life and have used it many times before.  Never before have I had an accident and had to pay an ungodly percentage of our household income for "out of pocket" co-pays or deductibles.

Insurance is supposed to pay for stuff when bad things happen.

What happened?  Obamacare.

I find it extremely rich that ideologues say, when faced with evidence by people with insurance bills, that it shouldn't be that way, therefore it isn't. Or, they say, innocent people with insurance bills are lying .

Here is the truth - because of Obamacare, hard-working Americans who have health insurance and pay premiums each month - now have to pay deductibles that are so high, there was no point in having insurance in the first place.

This is reality.  It completely stinks.  You can say it isn't this way.  But, just wait.  One day you may have an accident.  If you aren't an illegal alien, unemployed or a felon, you will have to pay an insane amount, too.

And, that isn't just the fever talking.