The ACA is far from perfect. Like a lot of other people, I would like to see single payer, or "Medicare for all." The premiums on the Healthcare.gov policies are too high and the benefits far from as good as what I used to get through my (former) employer.
But make no mistake, the net result has been positive for me. I am better off today (especially today, Tax Day 2015) than I would be without it.
I was employed, full time and then some, from 1970 until March 30, 2013. In those 43 years, I racked up a total of about three weeks of not having a full-time job. And from 1980 on, my health insurance came from my employer.
That all changed at the end of March two years ago when my employer of 23 years eliminated my entire department. I was 61-1/2 years old and had little or no prospects for further employment. My specialty (print newspaper editing) is dying (if not dead already) and nobody is looking for 60-plus copy editors.
So I retired. I had been planning to retire when I turned 65 anyway, so I had a lot of my plan in place already. I wasn't quite as well off as I wanted to be, but I wasn't going to lose my house or have to file for bankruptcy.
For the first 18 months after I retired, I got my health insurance through COBRA, a wildly unsatisfactory system. I was paying sky-high premiums, and my former employer was in the process of slashing benefits, so I was getting less and less for my $600-plus a month. My ex-employer kept changing providers and administrators, so I was having to find out where to send my budget-busting payment every month. My insurance kept being interrupted as my ex-employer switched things around.
But last November, I was done with COBRA and ventured onto Healthcare.gov. My state, Michigan, doesn't have it's own exchange, so I was in the federal system.
Based on my estimated income, I was eligible for a modest subsidy, but I wasn't sure I should take it, because I'm new to self employment, and I didn't really know what my final income was going to shake out for the year. So I paid the full premium -- which was still lower than my COBRA premium for a comparable policy.
I was covered by the ACA for two months last year -- that's all.
Last week, I did my 2014 taxes. I left it to the last minute, because I believed I was going to have to pay taxes. 2014 was my first year with no employer withholding.
Much to my very pleasant surprise, I qualified for a modest refund. And the reason was those two months of healthcare subsidies from the ACA. Only two months wiped out my tax liability for the entire year.
Part of the reason for the windfall was I had a fairly difficult year income-wise and my final income was less than I estimated. I actually got a bigger subsidy than I was counting on. A low-income year is hardly something to celebrate, but it was a great relief. I had truly feared my taxes for last year.
That's the huge upside of the ACA. Next year, I should have a really significant subsidy, since I'll have it for all 12 months.
There are a lot of downsides. Like I said up top, it's far from perfect. I particularly hate the deductibles. When I'm paying this much for a premium, it's really bitter to have to take the first $2,000 out of my pocket for the year. Believe me, $2,000 out of my budget every year is a big problem. But that's a short term thing, because I've got just 15 months to go (and yes, I'm counting) until I'm eligible for Medicare.
The ACA is unquestionably a giveaway to the insurance industry. If it was up to me, I'd completely cut insurance out of the health care field. It's an insane way to handle health care. Why should there be a middle man between me and my doctor?
But the ACA has been good for me. The insurance I'm getting is no worse than what I was getting through COBRA. There's less administrative nonsense, because I'm no longer covered by an organization (my former employer) that has no interest in taking care of me. And it's costing me a lot less.
That's the bottom line. The ACA did indeed provide me with affordable health care.
It's nice when something lives up to its advertising.