16 Sep 2014 Meet Pam Hopmann–ObamaCare Made Her Coverage Worse

I followed up my study on the quality of policies on the ObamaCare exchanges with an op-ed in RARE.  It began with the story of Pam Hopmann:

Like millions of Americans, Pam Hopmann of Chesterfield, Missouri received a notice cancelling her insurance in September 2013. Her experience after that is a textbook example of the problems caused by Obamacare late last year.

“My husband and I started trying to sign up for insurance on the exchange,” she said of her experience in getting a new plan, “but we never got through. We ended up using an insurance agent.”

Then came the rate shock. The plan she chose had a higher premium—$544 per month versus $400 for her old plan. Her new plan also required more cost-sharing. Her old plan had a deductible of $1,000; the new one had a deductible of $1,750.

She would soon experience the phenomenon that became known as the “skinny network.”

“In the fall of 2013 I started receiving letters from my physicians, including my ob/gyn and cardiologist, saying that they wouldn’t be taking insurance on the exchange because the reimbursement rates were too low,” Pam said.

“I just really feel like it was shoved down our throats—like I had no choice. Obama said we could keep our plans and keep our doctors, and I couldn’t do either of those. I think that’s wrong because if you had something you liked, you should have been able to stick with it.”

Despite the claims of some the law’s supporters, there are real people who suffer because of ObamaCare.