V L.

I lost my full-time job and my health insurance coverage along with it (Aetna POS Choice II, a VERY expensive plan for me personally despite employee sponsorship, with an endless series of bills for the services I availed in 2016-17). My Dec 2017 COBRA payment due was around $1600/-. I am still unemployed, and my wife has a modest income as a music instructor. I HAD to find cheaper options, and from Dec 1. I found one Healthcare.gov that suited my needs, I got a bunch of options and I chose the one that made most sense for me (Horizon BCBS) with a premium of around $ 1150/- for one month - saving me around $400/-. The reason my premium was still high was because of our combined income for 2017 was well above the threshold set by ACA.

For 2018 however, it was a different story. Our projected income for next year is expected to drop precipitously, and so we qualified for a substantial subsidy. The cheapest plan came with a premium of $0.92 per month after a hefty subsidy. There were a few more like that with a premium of less than $ 10.00 per month. We were all rubbing our eyes in disbelief, and even suspected that all this might turn out to be too good to be true. NOT! We verified (called the 24*7 Customer Service line), and found this to be true and correct. We chose a plan that was just right for our family, and completed the entire application process, including uploading the supporting documents, in about 15 minutes. It was quite an amazing experience. My past employer's Insurer (Aetna) was nowhere near this user-friendly. Healthcare.gov was the hands-down winner. No question.

Here is the icing on the cake - the fabulous Customer Service. During the course of my checking out plans and enrollment for Dec 2017 and 2018, I had to call Customer Service (*******596) several times considering some complications in my application arising from a family situation. EVERY time that I called, the Rep who spoke to me was genuinely friendly, extremely patient while answering the several questions I had, and was very knowledgeable. If they did not know the answer to something, or were not sure, they would put me on hold for a minute or two to research the website or speak to a Supervisor, and then circle back with me. The quality was the SAME regardless of the time of the day or the day of the week that I called.

Folks, please trust my word on this. The ACA is a GODSEND for folks like me, who need health insurance badly, but simply cannot afford it when faced with extenuating family situations and genuine financial hardships. I am sure that there are millions out there who are in far worse shape than I am, and perhaps they need insurance even more badly than I do. I sincerely hope this great service is not gutted by short-sighted political motivations.