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Sara Goodrich and her husband are both 44 and live in Maine. She works as a massage therapist, and he works as a carpenter. Because they are self-employed, they have relied on the Affordable Care Act for their health coverage for the last decade.
After more than three decades in the classroom, Darlene W. thought she had done everything right. She built a career teaching in a small rural public school in New York State, retired with a pension, and found affordable health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace. For the past two years, she’s relied on that coverage for peace of mind in retirement. But now, with federal subsidies under threat, that sense of security is unraveling.
ReShonda Young is a cancer survivor who accesses health care through the Affordable Care Act. With premium tax credits, her plan is $94 a month. But without them, her payment could skyrocket to $592 a month. She's asking Congress to think of people like her when considering changes or cuts to the program.
When the ACA Marketplace opened in the fall of 2013, Amy signed up for a plan that was exactly the same as the plan she’d bought directly through her insurance company. But instead of $1,400 a month, the same plan cost $530 a month, without the help of tax subsidies. Plus, it was even more robust than the original plan, including dental and vision coverage she’d never had before.
Tony is a professor in Pennsylvania who relies on enhanced premium tax credits to afford his gold-level health plan while teaching and supporting his family. Now battling stage four cancer, he fears losing the subsidies that make his coverage—and his care—possible.
Diagnosed with a life-threatening immune deficiency at 19, Brick Williams relies on expensive plasma-based treatments to stay healthy and work full-time as a music teacher. The Affordable Care Act made his self-employment sustainable, but the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits could force him to abandon his career or face financial ruin.
Charlie Kulander credits the ACA with stabilizing his life during his family’s most challenging years. “It allowed me to get my life back. We were in the midst of putting kids through college, all the expenses of a family. If I didn't have the Affordable Care Act, more than likely, my kids wouldn't have gone to college, and we would have been forced to declare bankruptcy. I owe my present life in a lot of ways to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.”
Amy Bielawski, a 60-year-old small business owner in Tucker, Georgia, relies on Affordable Care Act to keep her health insurance affordable. After years without coverage, she now has an Expanded Bronze plan that includes dental and vision benefits, coverage she couldn’t afford without Premium Tax Credits.
Amy Johnstone relies on the Affordable Care Act and its Premium Tax Credits to afford health insurance in one of the country’s most expensive markets. Without these subsidies, her medical expenses for a chronic condition could easily exceed her household income. Her story highlights how critical the ACA and tax credits are for ensuring access to health care.
When Sydney Macha suddenly lost her insurance, the ACA made it possible to afford care and keep her salon business alive. With tax credits, she pays just $13 a month for coverage that provides life-saving medications, surgeries and specialist care.