Why I’m worried Trump/Vance will almost guarantee I lose my ability to get affordable healthcare in the next four years.

If you’re on this page it’s because you read my email newsletter and are actually interested. Thanks. I’ll try to be clear and concise as possible.

A goal of Trump’s in his first term was to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (The ACA, aka Obamacare).

For those unfamiliar, The ACA, while imperfect, does two very valuable things.

• First, it makes it so that health insurance companies cannot (a) deny coverage to someone for preexisting conditions (anything from childhood asthma to diabetes to a cancer diagnosis, or more recently, Covid-19 infection) or (b) charge those same people more because of said preexisting conditions.

• Second, it offers financial aid to folks to help pay for insurance. (For a longer explanation of how the ACA actually works from someone who uses it (me) keep reading to the “One last thing” bullet point below.)

In his first term Trump and the Republican legislature came close to repealing The ACA but for the last-minute intervention of Senator John McCain.

They did, however, repeal a provision of The ACA, which mandated that everyone was required to have health insurance. As a result of this repeal, fewer people were then required to participate in the system, which means costs for individuals go up.

In his current campaign, Trump/Vance, along with Republican representatives in the legislature, continue to make removing The ACA a goal.

Now, Trump says “repeal and replace.” And yet in his first four years, and the four years since, he has never, ever, not once proposed a replacement. He’s said he has a “beautiful” plan that he’ll reveal “in two weeks.” More recently he’s said he has “concepts of a plan.” There is no plan. He’s a liar and con-artist. He’s Professor Harold Hill from THE MUSIC MAN teaching music using “the think method.”

And his running mate is proposing that one change would be charging people with preexisting conditions more to be insured. This is not good.

I mean, for-profit healthcare is not good as it is, and The ACA has real flaws, but these guys will only make it worse.

• One last thing- How The ACA works:

A common misunderstanding is that the ACA/Obamacare means you can’t choose your doctors or have to “do as you’re told” by some government-run healthcare sysrem. None of that is true. It’s very simply a way for individuals to purchase insurance from many of the same insurance companies people get coverage from through their jobs, and possibly in a more affordable way.

Here’s how it works, from someone who’s been using it from the beginning:

You go online (or call) and fill out all the necessary documentation, including how much money you earn/intend to earn in the coming year (I have to estimate as a freelancer, as my income varies). Based on that number, the federal government says, “we will give you X dollars a month toward the cost of insurance, so please pick an insurance plan and from the following options.”

Then, just as you would choose your plan at your job, I look over the available plans (from various providers, including the likes of Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Aetna), check which ones my chosen doctors accept, and select a plan.

So using made-up numbers, if the plan I’ve chosen costs $600/month and my federal credit is $250, then my monthly payment for insurance is $350/month. (There are also options for dental insurance, which aren’t part of the credit.)

I pay that every month and am insured, just like I’d be if I had a traditional job where the company pays in for my insurance.

At the end of the year, when I do my taxes, if I made more than I put down in my sign-up paperwork, I have to pay back however much of the credit I received relative to the difference.

That’s it. Or at least that’s how it’s worked for me. It’s not perfect (again, for-profit healthcare is the bigger issue), but until a better plan comes along, I’m clinging to this!