This is what Republicans are fighting...

[kpete]

My brother is a “Navigator” in another state, where he assists people face-to-face by appointment to sign up for healthcare on the federal marketplace. There is so much demand for getting insurance through the exchange, now that the website is working, that his office has extended hours from daytime to every evening and weekends.

I have a 30 year-old niece (single) with an AGI of about $15,000.00 who is signing up for health insurance at a cost of $25.00 per month.

I have a 50 something brother (single) with similar income who will be signing up for about the same premium as my niece.

I have a married 30 something nephew with one child and another on the way with a household income of around $25,000 who will be signing his family up.

A couple came in, the husband an avid tea party member who told my brother he “hates Obama,” and his wife who has some substantial healthcare needs. They signed up for health insurance at a monthly premium of $93.00. When they left, he shook my brother’s hand, thanked him, and told him he was doing a good job.

People leave my brother’s office in tears of joy. Sometimes they refuse to shake his hand and demand to give him a hug instead. A few weeks earlier when my brother was getting frustrated with the website, the person he was helping said, “Don’t worry. We can be patient. I have been waiting a life time to get health insurance.”

This is what Republicans are fighting.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/06/1260626/-His-brother-is-a-Navigator

[mercuryblues]

1. My son

invited a friend over last weekend.

He is 20 years old, both parents died. He works full time for $8.00 an hour. Where he works does offer coverage at a cost of $300 a month. He contacted an insurance company and was told his premiums would be about $190 a month. He simply can not afford that much. Here is the kicker, the company did not apply the subsidy. His estimated income, put him a tricky situation. IF our state had expanded medicare, he would have qualified for that. I blame our teabagger gov'ner for screwing over the poor. I did another estimate by boosting up his income a few thousand dollars to get him out of that coverage gap- his premiums came out to be about $30 a month.

I googled health care navigator for him, in his area. he has an apt on Monday. I am keeping my fingers crossed for him. Hopefully he can get coverage; he has medical condition that absolutely needs attention. I also gave him the number to a free clinic, funded through Obamacare. When I did that, I thought he was going to cry. Realizing that he can see a doctor ASAP without worrying about how he is going to pay for it. You know like skipping meals, not paying his car insurance or electric bill.

[OKNancy]

6. I read on one of the healthcare info sites ( reliable) that they won't penalize you if you

over-estimate your income. If you under-estimate, you will have to make it up the next tax year, but there are no consequences for over-estimation.

[mercuryblues]

9. thnx or that

If he had some documentation, I might of signed him up then and there. I was worried that overestimating income would come back to bite, do I didn't. I gave him the # of a local navigator. I am sure they would be more knowledgeable than I .

[OKNancy]

10. my daughter does freelance work ( quit her job to do it)

and like you, I'm in one of the states that doesn't have the expanded Medicaid. There is no way to see the future, so she is going to estimate her income just over the poverty line.

[spanone]

2. 'Obamacare' and it's success is their greatest fear

[beachbum bob]

3. programs and policies

that are govt derived are deeply hated....when they also work...GOP hates even more. Their unabashed selfishness is so overriding to morals and ethics

[Ikonoklast]

4. Obamacare will break the backs of the Teabagger Republican Christofascist Party.

People who would not listen before are starting to realize that they have been lied to all along about the ACA by their politicians, their pastors, their favorite TV and radio shows, their friends and relatives...will now start wondering what else have they been lied to by the same people

[Freddie]

5. My daughter may be an example of what they're fighting

She's an RN, works almost-full-time at a hospital, gets insurance for herself from her employer for $310/month. Employer charges "full price" for dependents so they bought one of those dosen't-cover-much plans for her (healthy, young, self-employed) husband. This plan was recently cancelled, of course. Their daughter is covered by state CHIP and Kid #2 is due next spring.
So I researched getting my son-in-law a plan on the exchange and it would be about $80/month more than the no-frills plan he had. Their income is too high for a subsidy to cover 1. But if she dropped her work insurance (it's not "affordable" by the 9.5% standard) and they covered both of them on the exchange they would qualify for the subsidy, which would increase after Baby #2 arrives. They could both be covered by a Silver HMO for less than she pays to cover herself at work. Best of all she could change her work status to Pool Nurse, a position without benefits but with a higher hourly rate and more flexible schedule. Exactly what the Repugs fear the most--she won't be tied down to her job for the insurance.

[kairos12]

7. Health care without being a wage slave--the rethugs biggest fear.

[SheilaT]

8. I just hope that those like the tea party couple

will re-think how they vote in the future.

If even half of those who currently insist on voting for Republicans would open their eyes to what they are really doing to themselves, the Republican Party would go out of business well before the next mid-term election.

But I'm afraid that people like that tea party couple will take the insurance and still vote for those who would take it away from them.

[Vietnameravet]

11. He says he Hates Obama

There is so much hate in the country..