For some of us, the Affordable Care Act isn't affordable

The Buddha in proportion More leaves embedded in ice

For some of us, the Affordable Care Act isn't affordable

I'm jealous of Eric Wee's dog's health insurance as well. I've been looking at the mandated health insurance plans for New Hampshire, and they're anything but affordable. The cheapest plans will push me deeply into debt each month, and will have deductibles of $5000. So not only will I be bankrupting myself by signing up for one, I'll have to pay 100% of any health care that I need, until I've paid the $5,000 deductible.

I've been fortunate. I haven't had health insurance for five years, and in that time I haven't been seriously ill. In those five years I've been to the doctor twice, and had one prescription. The total cost of all that was $360, which is less (for five years) than I'll be paying in premiums for one month.

This is the Affordable Care Act. But it's certainly not affordable for some of us. What it's going to do is to take several thousand dollars of my already strained income, and compel me to give it to a health insurance company, who will almost certainly give me nothing in return.

Of course it's possible that I might end up with some serious health problem. I'm 53. I could slip a disc, have a heart attack, have a stroke, break a limb in a fall or a car accident, or get cancer. In any of those cases I'd be glad that my losses were limited to a mere $5,000, rather than the many tens of thousands I'd otherwise have to pay. But that $5,000 dollars is not affordable under any definition of that word. I've no idea where it would come from, and I'd have no way to pay it back.

I'm not anti-ACA. I think it's a great idea in principle. For many people it cuts their insurance costs, and for many people healthcare becomes affordable for the first time — especially those with pre-existing conditions. But it does strike me as being deeply flawed in practice, and as soon as we can eject the insurance companies from the space between us and our healthcare providers, the better.?