Yes I did. My error was fixed by the forum administrators. Thanks to them.

I really want to make sure that anyone who does not have coverage knows they have the option of getting coverage, but the clock is ticking. Open enrollment for this cycle ends March 31. Getting healthcare insurance coverage has take a burden off of my shoulders.

There is a lot of disinformation floating around out there. I sent the following to the owner and manager of the taxicab company that employees me. When I was younger, I worked for his parents who owned the company at the time. I have known him for 35 years. I know in his heart of hearts he does have my best interest at heart, but he is a very conservative individual and does not like government intervention.

We exchange Email regularly, often hurdling friendly jabs at each other's particular political points of view, he the conservative and me the liberal. When I secured a policy through the Affordable Care Act, I sent him the following:

I’m really grateful that I can buy health insurance now. Beginning January my neurologist prescribe another drug. I am now up to 8 different prescriptions a day totaling $800 a month. My co-pay for all 8 prescriptions is $60 a month. The only reason the one drug is so expensive is that it is only offered by one company (no generic alternative) and it is rarely prescribed. He also prescribed a steroid, so to add insult to injury, I have to give up my dream of playing professional baseball.

I thought that he would be very happy for me, but here was his response:

My neighbor became a real estate agent about 10-years ago. He has struggled over the past few years… He, his wife and their 12-year old daughter had their policy cancelled as it was not an OBC qualified policy. (Remember, "if you like your plan, you can keep your plan"--- Lie!) They went on line to CCA and get the best price of 3X their last policy. So, if you see them, please thank them for paying for your medical and prescription costs!

Most stories like this are bunk. It is absurd on the face of it. So I did a bit or research and replied to him with the following:

What was the specific reason that their policy was canceled? How much were they paying and for what? I ran the numbers at CCA using the following data.

• 2 Adults age 45

• 1 Child under 18

• Yearly Income $65,000

Here were the results to cover all three for Blue Shield, accepted almost everywhere. If the family monthly income is lower, these prices would go down a bit. If the monthly income was higher, the cost world go up a bit. If the parents are much older, the prices would go up a bit.

• Bronze Monthly Premium: $370

• Silver Monthly Premium: $550

• Gold Monthly Premium: $730

• Platinum Monthly Premium: $903

Here is the calculator to check various pricing:

https://www.coveredca.com/shopandcompare/#calculator

One has to evaluate the their needs to chose which level policy is best for them. For me it was the Platinum policy. I am paying $510 a month for one person. If my treatment goes well, and if nothing really bad happens over the next two years, I will be paying $6,000 more than I will use. Without this coverage, I would have eventually ended up at VMC sometime over the next two years, and everybody would be paying for that.

I will include a screen shot of the benefits for the Gold Policy:

I know he was trying to sell me a load of "bunk" (we have a more technical term for the word "bunk" in the cab world, but decorum prevents me from using it in polite company). I would have loved to call him on this "bunk" directly, but from past history I found it best not to tell your boss that he is full of "bunk," but I will save that story for another day.

If, in fact, his real estate agent friend was paying 1/3 of the above mentioned costs to cover his family, it could not have been much of a policy.

BTW, I never did hear back from him on this topic after my response; this is his usual method of operation when I win an argument.

-Mark-