As a physician for mainly lower income patients I am living and working on the frontlines of Obamacare. Our office staff must navigate the complexities of the new plans, and we learned all about huge deductibles and seemingly arbitrary subsidies, as well as needed drugs now unavailable. I have helped troubled patients find a new doctor or a new cancer treatment center on their suddenly reduced but more expensive plan. I have some patients that were previously uninsured and now have health insurance, but are distressed about it, since they don’t qualify for subsidies. Their deductibles are so high that they are paying out of pocket anyway for their routine care, plus they are paying their new monthly premiums.
