UNITED STATES—Whew, the deadline to sign up for healthcare insurance has passed. Those who have not enrolled are expected to face a penalty on their taxes in the coming year. Let’s not even discuss why this disturbs me to say the least as we don’t have enough time. I want to share an insider story of the system. The ins and outs of registering and what the term ‘affordable’ truly means to the government.

 

I have a friend, who was signing up for healthcare on deadline day March 31. The site was overloaded with people for one, so he indicated there was a wait for him to get into the system. I still can’t stomach why the government was so decisive about pushing this deadline knowing people need adequate time to prepare and consider all options. It was almost like the government was placing a gun to a person’s head forcing them to sign up for insurance ASAP.  

 

After getting into the system he detailed a series of questions the system asks to determine a person’s eligibility. Let’s just say your INCOME is everything. It is quite troubling to say the least. If you’re a single person looking for health insurance, don’t think you’ll see low premiums, because it’s not the case. According to my friend the lowest package ranged at about $140 per month and that didn’t cover all things. Most notably missing was dental insurance which is a shock to me. If the government is so concerned about every single American having insurance why in the world is dental insurance not a must, but maternity coverage is. Hello, this is a guy registering why in the hell would he need maternity coverage, I DON’T.

 

That put up a red flag for me. I can understand the concept for women to have that coverage, but why would a guy need it. Please, please I need an explanation for that as it makes literally no sense in my opinion and nothing you say can make me think otherwise. Next, the terminology given in the various health plans are not as clear as one would have hoped. Remember, a lot of people signing up for health insurance are doing it for the very first time. They’ve never head it before. They may not understand the concept behind a deductible, a premium, a co-payment, a specialist, and the list goes on and on. Let’s just say it’s a ton of medical jargon that most Americans will be easily confused by.

 

My biggest gripe is the system’s decision to determine your eligibility and various packages to offer based on your income. That’s problematic, as I would say more than 60 percent of all Americans can’t give a decisive answer on their income from month to month. Why might you ask? Most may be part-time workers, what does that mean; your hours change from week to week.

 

Some may be pretty consistent, but you never know when that week arrives where you go from 32 hours to 24 hours, that’s a significant drop in income for that month. The system should not be relying on expected income for the year or the previous year, but perhaps what your earnings were for the past three months. This idea of throwing out a ballpark number troubles me more than I can say. Not many people live on a set salary; it changes from one week to the next.

 

I mean God forbid you lose your job, what happens with your insurance plan. Are you still covered, is the monthly premium you initially signed up for still intact or does a reduction go into effect because of your current situation. It’s frightening to know what can or what can happen with this new system.

 

I would love to be the biggest advocate for the Affordable Health Care Act, but something just won’t allow me to do so. For starters, people shouldn’t be forced to do something against their will which I think the system does to a degree. Heck, if it’s so important for all Americans to have insurance make it possible. You know why, I’m a taxpayer; you use my money to run the government that reason enough for you to provide me with healthcare, no extra charge.