I was really late getting my tax stuff ready to take in to the family run business that has been doing my taxes since 1969. I finally had everything ready today, the latest I’ve ever been.
Nancy knows I’m always late, but also knows my taxes are pretty easy so she didn’t mind. She didn’t have anyone else in the office so we chatted a bit. She was interested in what I write and I talked about my last piece, written about the ACA for Top Comments last night.
Yowsa, did she have some stories for me. As a self-employed person (and woman) the individual marketplace has been brutal. Stingy coverage and enormous premiums are “normal” for her.
But not any more!
She called the toll free number last year and has a silver plan with great coverage with a premium so low she says she cried. She’s no longer worried about a serious illness or injury taking away her home and meager retirement savings.
And she’s been telling all of her clients (large numbers of Republicans, she says), friends, neighbors, family, and even strangers new to her business. She gets a great opportunity, too, because, as a tax preparer, she has to check on the health insurance status of everyone filing their taxes.
She can’t believe the number of people that need insurance, but don’t apply because …. Obama. Yeah, that’s right, they think that if they get the insurance they need at a price they can afford that somehow Obama wins. They’re so filled with hate that even something that would be great for them is avoided like the plague (and if they do get the plague, they’ll have to pay for that themselves PLUS the tax penalty for not having insurance).
Go figure.
People are spreading the word even in a state like mine where Governor Snotty Walker not only refused to set up state exchanges and refused Medicaid expansion, he lowered the eligibility for Medicaid from 130% of the poverty level to 100% of the poverty level kicking 92,000 Wisconsinites off of Medicaid. And by kicking them off Medicaid, they’re so poor they can’t even qualify for subsidized ACA rates.
Keep on spreading the word. People need to be ready for the 2014 open enrollment period.
