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Feelings mixed about possible ACA loss

Enrollees weigh consequences

The 20 million Americans who have gained health coverage under the Affordable Care Act don’t yet know exactly how the presidency of Donald Trump will affect their lives, and reactions range from anxiety to apathy.

Trump told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that the law would be “repealed and replaced or amended.”

The public remains divided over the law since it passed in 2010. A recent Gallup poll found 51 percent of respondents in favor of repealing Obamacare, while 45 percent oppose repealing it.

Denise Martinez Gascoigne, 49, in Greenland, N.H., has been paying $1,130 in premiums each month for insurance for her family of four that she purchases through the state’s exchange. Their deductible is $5,000 per person. Gascoigne and her husband are both self-employed and earn too much money to qualify for a subsidy.

“It’s so ridiculous that we pay over $1,100 a month, and we’re still left footing the bill for whatever prescription or procedure we might need in addition to the health insurance,” she said. “We just don’t go to the doctor.” Her premium is set to increase to nearly $1,330 in 2017.

In Crystal, Minn., Xochitl Mendoza Ramirez fears that she will lose her coverage she gets through her state’s expansion of Medicaid, the government’s program for low-income adults. “If it wasn’t for the Affordable Care Act, there’s no way I would have gotten my gallbladder out or even gone to the doctor. I just couldn’t afford it,” she said. She also relies on the insurance for therapy and medications for bipolar disorder. Ramirez works two part-time jobs in retail, but neither provides health insurance.

Tuan Nguyen, 38, in San Jose, Calif., has been paying $105 for a subsidized plan on the exchange. Recently, he’s been diagnosed with digestive problems and acid reflux and was pleased that each doctor visit cost him just $5.

“I’m happy with the plan. I’m just sad to have it taken away from me right when I really need it,” he said. “If the subsidy goes away, I’ll have to pay full price. That’s close to $500 or so. I can afford it, but it’s something that will definitely take a chunk out of my income. It would be a crunch.”

But he’s much more worried for his mother, who is being treated for Stage 4 lung cancer and receives her insurance through California’s Medicaid program.

“Right now she’s getting medication that’s extending her life. It could allow her to live years instead of months,” he said. “Are they going to pull the plug on her medications?”

Rebecca Geitz of Austin, Texas, said her subsidized premiums have been affordable, but her plan “is the most useless thing in the world. No one takes it!” When Geitz, 33, did get sick, her copays were so high she said it was cheaper for her to pay an urgent care clinic out of pocket. “I do know that if a serious emergency happened my coverage would help to some degree,” she said.

Richard Coppola, 48, believes the ACA has been a failure. He pays $378 for a plan with a $2,000 deductible, and his premiums are going up to $480 next year. But he worries about a system where he could be denied coverage for having a mole removed years ago. He’s also concerned about lifetime cost limits being restored and the loss of subsidies for people with low incomes. “The ACA is a piece of garbage,” he said, “but the Wild West before was a lonely place.”

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