He should’ve seen this coming

10/27/13

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I am self-employed and I pay for my own health insurance. I assumed I would pay a surcharge for the Affordable Care Act every month. I assumed incorrectly that I would have the freedom to choose, that my future and security were in my hands. My insurance agent visited my office and asked me what provision of the ACA I wanted to sign up for. I thought he was kidding; he wasn’t. I do not have a choice. My policy will go from $325 a month to more than $900 a month, my coverage will be nowhere near what I have today and I must change my family doctor, eye doctor and dentist. My deductible will be as high as $8,000.

This act is now a federal law and there are no private insurance policies available — none — at any cost. I actually felt sorry for my insurance agent as I could see his frustration and weariness at having to explain this to his clients over and over.

My impression was that this act was to assist those who could not assist themselves, to provide help to those in need. I was fundamentally supportive and in agreement with this concept.

I should have seen this coming simply by the fact the lawmakers exempted themselves, their families and their staff. If a car mechanic will not drive a car after he performs major repairs, then the car is probably not safe for me and my family.

Why $900 a month for an inferior product? The middle-class citizen will carry this burden, the rich can pay cash, the poor pay nothing, and the folks in the middle pay everything.

Michael Carroll. Richmond.