I put together the following examples of the costs and benefits of health insurance under the new laws. I selected Blue Shield, but there are many other companies from which to choose. For some reason the Blue Shield prices were a bit less that some of the other providers. The table was assembled with data from Covered California, our state exchange.

The first table shows the results for an individual policy for a 35-year old. It shows the cost without premium support, and it shows prices with premium support at the $35,000, $22,000, and $18,000 income levels.

The second table shows the results for a family of four with two 50-year old parents and with 2 under 18-year olds. It shows the cost without premium support, and it shows prices with premium support at the $65,000, $50,000, and $35,000 family income levels.

I included screen captures showing the health plan benefits at the Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum policy levels.

Open Enrollment Ends March 31st for this cycle. If you do not have health insurance this is a great opportunity to get it. You cannot be denied for any reason, not age, gender, or for having preexisting conditions. Also share this link with any uninsured persons you may know.

Check to see if your state has an exchange. If your state does not have an exchange, you can use the Federal Exchange:

https://www.healthcare.gov/

This link leads to Covered California, the California Exchange:

https://www.coveredca.com/

Personal Note: I got a Blue Shield Platinum Plan that went into force in January. I am paying $510 for this policy at the advanced age of 59. Without premium support, the Platinum Plan would have cost $1,000.

Beginning in the summer of 2012, I was a self-paying patient at the San Jose Medical Group. In November 2013 my neurologist prescribed 180 mg Mestinon Timespan tablets, having only been diagnoised with Myasthenia Gravis a few weeks earlier. The cost for 30 tablets was $240. I could not afford them at the time, so I passed on them, using only the Pyridostignine tablets, and muddled through the holiday season. Since I now have health insurance, I paid $25 for the Mestinon Timespan in January 2014.

My primary care doctor order a second CT scan to look more closely at my abdominal region. He thinks he sees a mass on my liver from my January 2014 chest CT scan. Instead of telling him I would need to wait until I saved the money to pay for it ($500 for a self-paying patient in advance), I simply scheduled it and had it done on Tuesday. My cost for the second CT scan is $125, billed later by Blue Shield. My doctor wanted to do a colonoscopy in November 2012, but I could not afford the $1,200 price. I will have the colonoscopy in February 2014, and if I am not mistaken, there is no change for it. If there is, I can now afford it because I have health insurance. For me, it is a new world. I now have more control over my life.

Self-paying patient are required to make payment before treatment, including blood tests, visits to the doctor, and for scans and X-Rays. Whenever I would visit my doctor, I needed to offer up a $150 deposit, cash or credit card. If the cost of the visit was less, I would get a refund on the deposit. If the cost was more, they would bill me later. A typical primary care doctor charge was $95 for a self-paying patient. A visit to the neurologist cost $250 in advance.

My life's goal before the Affordable Care Act was to survive until I could get Medicare. With Myasthenia Gravis, and the lack of health insurance or the money to pay for proper treatment myself, it might have been a difficult goal to reach. Somewhere along the line I would have ended up in a county hospital. I came close to it in September 2013 when I had sever Myasthenia Gravis symptoms. I think we all knows what that would have meant for the taxpayers.

In the ten years before the Affordable Car Act, I applied several time for health insurance, and was turned down every time. I had seen a chiropractor in the late 1990s due to back pain cause by poor posture sitting at my desk. My chiropractor taught me how to sit, and straightened my spine. The pain went away after ten adjustments, and it never returned. But there was a paper trail, and I felt obligated to include the history of back pain in the applications when asked. If I had lied, they would found out and deny any claim for preexisting conditions. This was the "good reason" to deny my applications. I believe the "real reason" was my 275-pound weight at the time. Had they sold me a policy in 2004 when I first applied, I would paid into the system without using it until the summer of 2012 when I sought out medical treatment, for what I know now is Myasthenia Gravis.