Meet Butch Matthews--Republican Who Came To Love Obamacare After Realizing It Will Save Him $13,000
Meet Butch Matthews, A Republican Who Came To Love Obamacare After Realizing It Will Save Him $13,000
By Sy Mukherjee - October 2, 2013 - http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/10/02/2721501/butch-matthews-obamacare-convert/
Butch Matthews is a 61-year-old former small business owner from Little Rock, Arkansas who used to wake up every morning at 4 A.M. to deliver canned beverages to retailers before retiring in 2010. A lifelong Republican, he was heavily skeptical of the Affordable Care Act when it first passed. I did not think that Obamacare was going to be a good plan, I did not think that it was going to help me at all, he told ThinkProgress over the phone.
But after doing a little research, Matthews eventually realized how much the law could help him. And on Tuesday, his local Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) provider confirmed that he would be able to buy a far better plan than his current policy while saving at least $13,000 per year through Arkansas Obamacare marketplace.
quotes-18Matthews was self-employed between 1997 and 2010, meaning he had to purchase his own plan on the individual market. He chose a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan for himself and his wife that charged a $250 per month premium and had a $2,000 deductible. But the price of that policy kept rising even as it covered fewer of his costs, eventually devolving into his current rate of $1,069 per month with a $10,000 deductible. At this point, it doesnt even cover his medication or doctors visits particularly concerning considering he had to have two stents placed in his heart in 2006.
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