Patients Pay Before Seeing Doctor as Deductibles Spread

[Yo_Mama]

6. For the lower income families or persons, ACA limits cost-sharing

Those who get significant cost-sharing help will have their responsibility limited to 6% and 13%. Those people will get access to most health care services as needed. However the third tier of cost-sharing help still leaves the patients on the hook for 27% of costs, and cost-sharing help ends at 250% of FPL, leaving patients on the hook for their entire deductible and generally a 30% copay after that until the OOP maximum is reached.

The reality is that many people won't be able to get anything but emergency care, because the deductibles and copayments for ACA plans are quite high. ACA doesn't provide access to treatment unless you are low income. It does provide wellness exams, but if they find anything wrong treatment is not covered until you have met your deductible and can come up with the copayment. So you can get a free colonoscopy or mammogram or wellness exam, but if your doctor decides you need treatment for a tumor or a nuclear stress test, many will have to come up with thousands of dollars to get that.

For many, ACA plans will be the "shitty insurance" everyone thought they were getting away from.