•January 4, 2017•

By Trudy Lieberman
Rural Health News Service

Lori Eng, a 62-year-old office manager who works in western Nebraska, sent an email not long ago telling me she was “terrified” she might lose her Obamacare health insurance. The many horror stories passed along in the media had frightened her, and she wanted me to hear from someone who had benefitted from the law.

No wonder Eng is scared. Ever since the Affordable Care Act passed almost seven years ago, opponents, mostly Republicans, have vowed to repeal the law and replace it with a different plan. The November election results now make that a possibility.

Eng didn’t have health insurance before the Affordable Care Act came along. Her four-day-a-week job did not provide it, and her salary - less than $20,000 a year - was too low for her to swing an insurance premium. She bought her first Obamacare policy from one of the insurance co-ops that operated in Iowa and Nebraska that was supposed to offer cheaper coverage. It did - until it collapsed. With her government subsidy, she was able to buy a plan for only $50. She also qualified for an extra subsidy to help pay her deductible and coinsurance.

When the co-op failed, as most eventually did, she got a similar plan the next year from another company. Because her subsidy had increased, she paid only $34 each month. That year Eng was diagnosed with breast cancer, and her treatment, which included chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, cost around $200,000. She paid just $1,450 out of pocket.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.