We Lost Our Health Care Plan Just Like #TedCruz

by Kim D.

The latest scandal attributed to Ted Cruz, in another weak attempt to derail his candidacy for president, is that he lied when he said his family had lost their health care plan due to Obamacare. Well, like the Cruz family, many of us lost the health care plans we had. Oh, we were offered the option to purchase a new one, but the reality is the plan we had, along with the doctors we have come to depend upon, was canceled.

In Texas, if you are self-employed, you independently purchase a health care plan to meet the needs of your family. Last year my husband and I were floored that our premium was increasing by $500 per month until our daughter turned 26 at which time the monthly hit job would be reduced. We have BCBSTX which offers the largest network of doctors. We also elect to have a health savings account attached to the plan which limits our choices, as only a less than an handful of plans are available with an HSA option.

We paid the premium last year to the tune of $1,350 per month until May when our daughter turned 26 and could no longer stay on our policy. At that point, the premium was reduced to $1,128 per month. This fall we were sent a letter indicating that our plan would be cancelled and that a similar plan would be selected for us. This sounds exactly like what happened to the Cruz family:

Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for the Republican presidential candidate, said Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas canceled Cruz's family policy Dec. 31, a plan she said the family purchased on the individual market through a private broker without government funds. Frazier said the broker told Cruz the plan was going to be canceled.

"The broker did not inform him that Blue Cross had automatically enrolled the family in another policy, an HMO with far more limited coverage," Frazier said. "Based on this information, Sen. Cruz believed the family was uninsured and asked the broker to pull quotes immediately for a new policy."

Unlike Ted and Heidi Cruz, my family is not working day and night to capture the support needed to win a Republican primary race.  We do not use a broker. So we were aware that a change was coming but unaware of how horrible it would be. 

You see, for many years, at the end of summer, we would receive a letter from BCBSTX stating our plan would be canceled and that we would have an opportunity to select a new one in November. This year I was actually pleased that we would be given a comparable plan and would not have to go through the plan selection process yet again. So, we really didn't get too worked up about this latest cancellation and change. until our new policy cards arrived in the mail along with an assigned doctor. 

We now had an HMO plan and were each being assigned a primary physician. When I called to discuss options with an insurance rep, I discovered that this plan was the best BCBSTX could offer us. However there was some good news; the rep said our policy would be decreasing by $2 per month.

So now, we cannot have the insurance plan we want nor keep our doctors and the only benefit is that we pay two dollars less each month. To add insult to injury, our network is very limited. No doctor we have a relationship with, medically speaking, will be approved under this new plan.  We are very lucky in that we have had good health but are now faced with a difficult decision - do we keep paying $1,125 per month for no benefit?  Or, do we let the plan go, pay the penalty, and keep our fingers crossed that those candidates who want to continue with Obamacare (Hillary) or want a single-payer system (Bernie) are defeated? We had five days to make that critical decision.

Some may read this and think, why is she complaining , , , at least her family has health care.  So what if she has to see different doctors. Let me explain the problem. My son has seen the same pediatrician since birth and this doctor has 4 1/2 stars as rated on Health Grades. If we retain the HMO plan we have been forced into, my son loses access to this doctor and has been assigned to a new one which we will have to travel to another town to see. Add to that, I looked up the new doctor's score on Health Grades which is disappointing 2 1/2 stars.

So essentially we pay the same and get less benefit. For a middle-class family, that is not fair. We are not wealthy millionaires who can afford to buy whatever insurance policy we want and pay extra for any doctor we want to see. In 2013, our premiums were $700 per month. In 2014, they were $850. In 2015, $1,128 (actually more like $1,240 because for the first five months we paid a lot more). We were held ransom to increasing prices because we wanted access to the doctors we trust. Now we are told pay up and, by the way, you see the doctor we tell you to see - one that is not as good as the one you had. Thanks Obamacare.