Opinion

Health insurance is not affordable

Posted November 21, 2016 12:00 am

I agree with anyone who says health insurance is not affordable. JoAnne Lee says she's self-employed, but I'm not employed at all. I lost my job 11 months ago and could have kept my COBRA coverage at a cost of over $800 a month, at a time when I was living on unemployment.

As I'm 63, I could not land a new job, and I investigated healthcare.gov and the closest comparable coverage would have cost me almost $300. I am now taking early retirement and don't even have that much left after my bills are paid.

I couldn't even get coverage in time for the deadline, so I'm out of luck and now am faced with paying a penalty, which I totally disagree with.

Worse yet, my rent is going up $20 a month, and my Social Security increase will only be $5, so I'm at an even worse disadvantage for obtaining decent insurance coverage for 2017.

Will someone please explain what is affordable about this health care system?

Ann Hedleston

Wheeling

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