With the increase of health care premiums, hidden administrative costs, high cost of prescription drugs along with defensive medicines these costs are eating up working the American raises. These are a few reasons working Americans can’t get ahead financially.
As of January 1st health care premiums increased twenty-five percent for 2017. Between 2015 and 2016 the increase was about 4%. In 2016 the standard annual premiums were about $18,142 for a family of four that was fully covered. These costs also affect the employer large or small.
Since the implantation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare in March 2010, here in Georgia the rates and coverage have not gone over very well according to recent state health rankings. States like Kentucky and Arkansas have successfulness decreased their uninsured health care recipients. But Georgia has not
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Yet the main goal of Obamacare was to make health insurance more affordable and available to those who could not get coverage previously. In order to achieve this policy, the new act made health insurance mandatory. If you fail to carry coverage you can potentially be fined. The law also prohibits all health care companies like Humana, WellCare, and Blue Cross Blue Shield from charging higher premiums to patients with pre-existing conditions. Children and young adults up to the age 26 can remain on their parent’s medical coverage.
I am a living witness to these financial burdens. In 2010 I was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in my left breast. Unlike many other breast cancer survivors I did not have to undergo a mastectomy just surgery to remove the cancerous lump. I also went through eight rounds of chemotherapy and weeks of radiation therapy. My private troubles had now become a problem that so many Americans face socially; a financial