PPACA winners and losers

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http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_24248486/obamacares-winners-and-losers-bay-area

Cindy Vinson and Tom Waschura are big believers in the Affordable Care Act. They vote independent and are proud to say they helped elect and re-elect President Barack Obama. Yet, like many other Bay Area residents who pay for their own medical insurance, they were floored last week when they opened their bills: Their policies were being replaced with pricier plans that conform to all the requirements of the new health care law. Vinson, of San Jose, will pay $1,800 more a year for an individual policy, while Waschura, of Portola Valley, will cough up almost $10,000 more for insurance for his family of four.

Covered California officials note that at least 570,000 of the 1.9 million people who buy their own insurance should be eligible for subsidies that will reduce their premiums. Even those who don't qualify for the tax subsidies could see their rates O'Connor Hospital health benefits resource center staff member Araceli Martinez, left, and Duc Pham, right, talk with Maria Urquidez, in red, about healthcare information as the Affordable Care Act launches nationwide Oct. 1, 2013. (Josie Lepe/Staff) drop because Obamacare doesn't allow insurers to charge people more if they have pre-existing conditions such as diabetes and cancer, he said. People like Marilynn Gray-Raine. The 64-year-old Danville artist, who survived breast cancer, has purchased health insurance for herself for decades. She watched her Anthem Blue Cross monthly premiums rise from $317 in 2005 to $1,298 in 2013. But she found out last week from the Covered California site that her payments will drop to about $795 a month.

But people with no pre-existing conditions like Vinson, a 60-year-old retired teacher, and Waschura, a 52-year-old self-employed engineer, are making up the difference. "I was laughing at Boehner -- until the mail came today," Brochures and handouts on the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, are shown at the education outreach booth sponsor by Daughters of Charity O'Connor Hospital at Santa Clara County Library Alum Rock branch in San Jose on Oct. 1, 2013. (Josie Lepe/Staff) Waschura said, referring to House Speaker John Boehner, who is leading the Republican charge to defund Obamacare. "I really don't like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so pissed about this. When you take $10,000 out of my family's pocket each year, that's otherwise disposable income or retirement savings that will not be going into our local economy." Both Vinson and Waschura have adjusted gross incomes greater than four times the federal poverty level -- the cutoff for a tax credit. And while both said they anticipated their rates would go up, they didn't realize they would rise so much.

"Of course, I want people to have health care," Vinson said. "I just didn't realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally."

Dear Teacher Vinson, Don't say you weren't warned. You chose to get caught up in the euphoria and rhetoric of how great this law was going to be for all Americans. And you voted with your heart for the kind man with a winning smile. And you thought the multimillionaires will pay for it and it would never become your problem. Now, when it hits your middlle-class pocketbook, you feel deceived. Sincerely, Your friendly neighborhood libertarian