Obama's health law finally gets real for America

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

WASHINGTON (AP) - Now is when Americans start figuring out that President Barack Obama's health care law goes beyond political talk, and really does affect them and people they know.

With a cranky federal website complicating access to new coverage and some consumers being notified their existing plans are going away, the potential for winners and losers is creating anxiety and confusion.

"I've had questions like, 'Are they going to put me in jail if I don't buy insurance? Because nobody will sell it to me,'" said Bonnie Burns, a longtime community-level insurance counselor from California. "We have family members who are violently opposed to 'Obamacare' and they are on Medicaid - they don't understand that they're already covered by taxpayer benefits.

"And then there is a young man with lupus who would have never been insurable," Burns continued. "He is on his parents' plan and he'll be able to buy his own coverage. They are very relieved."

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20131103/DA9RAMJO0.html

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In this Oct. 30, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall about the federal health care law. Now is when Americans start figuring out that President Barack Obama's health care law goes beyond political talk, and really does affect them and people they know. With a cranky federal website complicating access to new coverage and some consumers being notified their existing plans are going away, the potential for winners and losers is creating anxiety and confusion. A look at three broad groups: those losing coverage, those gaining coverage, and those wondering if their coverage will change. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)