Levittown Woman Says Obamacare Needs Reworking

When the Affordable Care Act became law, it promised to fulfill a noble cause: help those who work hard attain affordable health insurance. For some, the reality is that hard-working middle class people were pushed from their plans.

Shannon Collins, who lives in the Levittown area, is just one example of someone who liked the idea behind the health care law, but once she saw how the implementation hurt her family, she knew something needed change within the law.

When the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, came into effect, Collins was working at a chain hair salon. Obamacare meant that a lot of her coworkers could suddenly afford insurance. Her husband, who works at a local school district, had a strong enough insurance plan where Collins didn’t need to look to Obamacare for coverage for herself and children.

“I love the fact that people who are near and dear to me were and are able to afford health insurance,” Collins said.

Then things changed. Friends of Collins were helped, but her own family began to suffer.

Before Obamacare came into effect, Collins’ husband paid about $60 out of each paycheck for health care. Afterwards, that jumped to $450 each paycheck, or about $900 every month.

After Collins’ husband’s employer moved the health insurance cost to employees, things changed for the family. Collins moved off of her husband’s plan and looked to the Obamacare marketplace after she heard a plan her coworker had cost $80 per cycle. When Collins attempted to sign up for the same plan, it cost $380 each month due to her husband’s income.

“I think it is a complete racket,” Collins said.

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Even though she had health insurance, she couldn’t afford to use it thanks to high deductibles. If she ended up sick or in the hospital, the family would be out of luck.

“The decision was to go onto his insurance and now all of that has been taken away from us,” Collins said, explaining the couple’s decision to go on her husband’s insurance happened when they were married.

Seven years on, it seems like things are starting to level out. Collins explained that her husband’s employer has improved coverage, bringing the cost of healthcare down.

“We’re finally starting to move in the right direction,” Collins said.

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The government needs to work with small and large companies in the future, according to Collins. Catering too much to one side leaves problems in the system, she said.

Through all of the problems with the healthcare law, Collins doesn’t want the law to go away totally, but she does acknowledge that it needs a lot of work to be viable for many middle class families.

Things may be getting better for the Levittown family, but watching all of this work being done on healthcare her family nervous for the future, Collins said.

“It definitely needs some major work, as far as we’re concerned,” Collins said. “We work very hard to have the things that we have, and then we ultimately get stuck with this.”