December 23rd 2013 is the day my life as I
currently knew it changed. I decided
that the letter I had written about my experience with healthcare.gov and the
new Affordable Care Act needed to be posted to what I thought was my little
world of Facebook Friends. I addressed
it as An Open Letter to the Obama
Administration and American Citizens.
My hopes were for my family and friends to read my letter and understand
what we were going through. I wanted
them to know if they were going through it too - they were not alone. I knew it would be shared and I asked it to
be shared. However I never could have
dreamed it would travel in social media as far as it has to date.
First, I want to make sure there is no confusion - I am Karri
Kinder who lives in Alabama. I did write
that letter and I am also writing this letter.
Every word of my letter is true.
This is happening to countless Americans. I am now more convinced of that than I was
when I wrote my letter. I have had so
many people contact me with their own “Obama Care Horror Story” as some
articles have named it. There were a
number of other Americans just like us with such similar stories; it began to
be quite eerie. I knew what I had done
would spark conversation among the American people. I was speaking out and helping others to do
the same. I was letting my children’s’ voices
be heard, I was letting our story be told.
But, as I realized I was also opening my family up to the court of
public opinion too.
Once you put something on the internet it is always there,
and while I never meant to do any harm, my words sparked anger in many of my
fellow Americans. I could not understand
it. All I was trying to do was to get
the word out there about what was happening to us and what was happening to my
children. They are the only ones who
have mattered through all this. They
were the reason I wrote my letter – I needed to be their advocate. I, as their mother, had to tell their story.
And I am very glad I live in a country where a single individual’s voice
matters.
Again, everything in my previous letter was completely
the truth. We were covered by Blue Cross
Blue Shield (BCBS) of Alabama for $380.00 a month, including dental coverage. I wouldn’t even begin to know how to make up
that number. That is what our plan cost
and that is what I paid for the last 12 months.
Everyone’s premiums are different; they fluctuate from state to state as
well. However, I saw my fellow Americans
coming to my defense when my numbers came in question on several sites – for
that I am very grateful. They also were
telling their stories and sharing their premiums and confirming my numbers were
not a lie. Their numbers were similar to
ours. Many will say that our plan was so
cheap because it was one of the sub par plans we have heard all the politicians
talk about on the television. But to us
it wasn’t. It met our needs and wants in
a health insurance plan. My child’s
medical needs (he has ADHD) were being met.
All of his care this past year had been covered at 100 percent. When we went to the doctor for his ADHD care,
we never paid a co-pay. When we saw his
therapist for his behavioral therapy we never paid a co-pay or received a bill
for that either. His medicine that he
takes (generic form) cost us $100 for the first prescription, for us to meet
his deductible and then a $15 dollar co-pay the rest of the year each time we
filled a prescription. So, again for us
our BCBS plan was meeting our needs.
I kept my letter politics free. My letter wasn’t about the political side of
the Affordable Care Act. It was about
what was happening to us and how it was hurting my family. After all the stories people have sent me, it
is clear there are many “glitches” in this system. I for one am so happy that people, who were
being denied coverage for pre-existing conditions, now are able to get
insured. I have always supported that
aspect of the ACA. It is not right that
someone who wants health insurance and is willing to pay the premiums for their
health insurance, were not allowed by the insurance companies to do so. However that is where my support
stopped. I don’t feel it is right to
force other people, into a system they don’t want or truly need to be a part
of. What happened to “if you like your
current plan, you can keep it?” We
certainly liked our plan but we are no longer allowed to keep it, it doesn’t
meet all the requirements of the ACA and that is why it was terminated.
So here we are on January 4, 2014 and I do have some good
news. Because I decided to write my
letter and speak out - people stepped up and helped us. We were contacted on January 1, 2014 by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
I was told by the woman I spoke with that she had read my letter and
wanted to get her team involved and see what they could do to help us. I recounted to her what was happening and
that I had been advised to go ahead and sign me and my husband up for a plan on
healthcare.gov. We went with a lower
cost plan because it was going to just be the two of us. We had no idea what it was going to cost for
the children once we got some answers. So
we went with BCBS Blue Value Saver plan.
The cost of the plan is $459.19.
We qualified for $255.00 in subsidies so the final cost of the plan to
us is $204.19 each month. I told the
lady that I would cancel that plan if I needed to. What we wanted was to have all of us on one
plan like we always have been. She said,
“If the kids qualify for ALL Kids then I am pretty sure they have to go that
route or you will have to buy them a plan at the normal rate.” So again we were told more than likely we
will have to go through ALL Kids. She
took the rest of our information down and said she was getting her team to work
on it and would either call us back or ALL Kids would contact us.
January 2, 2014, a gentleman from ALL Kids contacted me
as the Health and Services rep had stated.
He had more questions for me and he said wanted to make sure we needed
to go the ALL Kids route, since the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services rep
told him that we didn’t want to put our kids on ALL Kids unless we had no other
option. He went over the program with me
and said they would be working on my application. He also told me it was a very good thing that
I had went ahead and filled out an application with them personally because
they had still not received our application through healthcare.gov. I couldn’t believe that information had not
been sent yet. Remember I had received
our first results on December 6, 2013. I
was even more confident at that point that my letter had made all the
difference for my children. I can’t
imagine how long we would have waited to be contacted by the state, because our
application was somewhere in limbo land through the healthcare.gov site. I was also very grateful to the one person
with healthcare.gov who actually told me I needed to go ahead and file a
separate application with ALL Kids.
January 3, 2014 at 2:00 pm I returned a missed phone call
from ALL Kids – I had been at work and unable to answer the original call. They told me that our children have now been
approved and they went over the cost with me.
The cost to us for both boys will be $208.00 annually. So that means it will be a little over $17.00
a month for coverage through ALL Kids for both boys. I was told we should be receiving our packet
information and cards in the mail within the next 5-7 business days. I thought when all this started that when we
finally got our boys coverage through something I would have a huge sense of
relief and weight off my shoulders. Please,
do believe, I am incredibly grateful that they have coverage now and I am
indebted to those who made this possible.
However, I truly hate the fact that it is not how we wanted them to be
covered. We don’t want to have to be
reliant on the government, which is what makes my heart so heavy today. I think to myself, just a month ago, we were
paying for our whole family to have private insurance and now today that is not
the case. There are so many people out there
who needed these services due to falling on hard times and other
circumstances. I think it is a great
program for those who need it, to get back on their feet. However a month ago we were not the people
the program was designed for and today we are - to afford coverage and still
have some money to spend and support the U.S. Economy by affording to buy
clothes, food , clothes, gas, and other necessities. Again, I am forever indebted to those who got
the ball rolling for them to have coverage – those who called me and made sure
my children would get coverage quickly.
We just didn’t want to have to be reliant on the government when we
didn’t have to before the ACA was passed and enacted. Seems we should have a healthcare system that
maintains affordability on all levels without needing the government’s funds to
afford a modest lifestyle as middle class Americans.
Lastly, I want to thank my family and friends for all the
support you have shown us. To all, my
fellow Americans, who did not know us and shared our story. To our Alabama State Senator Tom Whatley (R -27th District) who took the time to call us and offered his help
and support. All of you had a part in
helping get us answers and a solution to our situation. So many sent us their thoughts and prayers
and we are so thankful to each and every one of you. I encourage everyone who has shared their
stories with us to please write your own letter so others can see that we are
not the only family this is happening to.
There are so many stories in my email inbox of families, just like us,
getting lost in the ACA system and that were paying for their own healthcare
plans that were affordable for their families until now. If we all speak up then our government will
have to listen and work on fixing the problems as a whole. I will support all of you who decide to speak
out. It is not an easy road as I have
learned, but it did get us the help we needed to start the new year fully
covered. My thoughts and prayers are
with all of you going through this and I will offer my support any way I can.
Karri Kinder
