This is a true story of how Obamacare torpedoes the dignity and self-sufficiency of ordinary Americans. It robs people of their freedom and their individual sovereignty, pillars of the American Idea. We are not state property – TAKE BACK OUR HEALTHCARE!
#RealPeopleRealPain
My name is Paige Noll. I am 34 years old, a wife of almost 12 years, and a mother to three beautiful children. I am a small business owner, having a successful, licensed home childcare for now 10 years. My husband works for his father, who also runs a small business; an established, successful, agricultural service center and parts store, Nortonville Parts and Service. My family and our businesses are located in a small rural community, Nortonville, Kansas. We pride ourselves on our family, faith, and successful, resourceful businesses. My husband’s workplace has always prided itself in being able to pay 100% of healthcare premiums not only to its employees, but to also include the employees’ family members. This is a wonderful benefit that not all companies have the ability to do. That is until the world was hit with The Affordable Care Act – Obamacare.
Due to the ACA, the premiums skyrocketed. This made it impossible for Nortonville Parts and Service to continue to afford their provided healthcare policies. Each employee, including my husband, was forced to find his own policy. With the help of Beverly Gossage [president of HSA Benefits Consulting, Eudora, KS], we began our hunt. It is important for us to have a healthcare policy that is going to cover our small children and the many doctors visits that that entails, also a policy that covers my husband and myself so that we are always available to our children. It didn’t take long to see that, outside of the marketplace, the premiums for a family of five were astronomical. It was going to be impossible for us to afford these premiums.
Next step: Look to healthcare.gov and see what is available. This was a tough decision for us, because we pride ourselves on taking care of our own bills and needs. We do not take any government help and so very wished that we could continue on this path. We feel that that freedom was taken from us with the drive of premium prices. Now inside the healthcare marketplace, we are forced even further from providing for our family on our own. Not only would we be receiving a healthcare tax credit to help us afford the premium, but also according to the government my husband and I don’t make enough money to keep our children on an insurance policy with us. Inside the marketplace, it was determined that our children need to be put on KanCare, the Kansas form of healthcare Medicaid.
Our choices laid in front of us: pay for a premium outside of the marketplace that costs three times what I bring home in a pay check each week, or continue within the marketplace and receive a healthcare tax credit for a policy covering only my husband and me, and also place our children within the system of KanCare.
I cried. These are things that I never wanted. We really had no choice. I ensured that my children’s amazing pediatrician would still be available if they were placed on state insurance, and we swallowed our pride. It is hard for me to walk into the office of said pediatrician and hold my head up high. I do not look down on others for needing assistance, but it is something that we have never needed. I donate regularly to our church and other local charities. I wish I could pay for my children’s medications when they are sick (something that my husband and I have ALWAYS been able to do on our own), but that choice was taken from me. I would gladly pay a premium that fit into our budget to include my entire family under one blanket. I look forward to the day that the ACA is in our past and the insurance companies can fight for my business. I want BACK the control over my own family’s healthcare.