October 26, 2016

Meet the Guy Whose Insurance Premium More Than Doubled

You probably know somebody like Jay Wells in your town. He’s a hardworking family man. He goes to church on Sunday. He owns a small business. He’s an all-around good guy. And he’s also become a national symbol for the complete and utter failure of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Mr. Wells, of Colquitt, Georgia, is facing a massive (and I do mean massive) increase in his monthly health insurance premiums, according to a letter he received from BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia. “Your current monthly premium is $711.83,” read the letter. “Starting in January, your monthly premium will be $1,872.17.” The sticker shock was shocking.

You probably know somebody like Jay Wells in your town.

He’s a hardworking family man. He goes to church on Sunday. He owns a small business. He’s an all-around good guy.

And he’s also become a national symbol for the complete and utter failure of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Wells, of Colquitt, Georgia, is facing a massive (and I do mean massive) increase in his monthly health insurance premiums, according to a letter he received from BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia.

“Your current monthly premium is $711.83,” read the letter. “Starting in January, your monthly premium will be $1,872.17.”

The sticker shock was shocking.

“It was really tough to play the $700 per month,” Mr. Wells told me. “With this new increase, I don’t see any way we can do that.”

BlueCross BlueShield explained that the insurance coverage he currently has won’t be offered in 2017 — so it found another plan to meet the needs of Mr. Wells, his wife and their three children.

“This isn’t a Marketplace plan,” the letter read. “This means you won’t get any financial help lowering your monthly premium or out-of-pocket costs if you enroll in this plan.”

And that doesn’t even take into account the family’s $5,000 deductible.

“My goodness — $1,800 — that’s a deal breaker,” he said.

It could be a deal breaker for many American families.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that premiums for a mid-level benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across 39 states served by the federally run online market. Some states could face even steeper increases.

And since many major national insurance carriers have scaled back their participation in Obamacare, many American families will only be able to choose plans from a single insurer.

“The letter we received stated the policy we had had been grandfathered in and all the grandfathered plans were eliminated due to Obamacare mandates,” Mr. Wells said.

Remember the promise made by President Obama?

“If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan — period,” he said.

That’s what he promised to folks like Jay Wells.

Mr. Wells liked his health care plan, but because of Obamacare he won’t be able to keep his healthcare plan.

“In an Obama administration, we’ll lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year,” he said.

But thanks to Obamacare, the Wells family’s premiums will increase by $13,200 per year.

Instead of delivering on his promises to the Wells family, the president handed them and the American people a wheel barrel full of Grade-A fertilizer.

That could be why the policy selected for Mr. Wells is called the “POS 5500.”

And if you think your insurance premiums are too expensive now, just watch what happens if Hillary Clinton gets the keys to White House.

That’s one of the reasons Mr. Wells plans on voting for Donald Trump on Election Day.

“I’ve been a lifelong Republican — never supported Trump — but certainly plan to vote for the Republican nominee,” he told me. “I think Mr. Trump has a good opportunity here to show this is a legitimate concern for people.”

Regardless, fixing Obamacare is not going to happen overnight.

“It’s going to be an absolute nightmare and it’s going to take some time to get this worked out. But, my goodness, we’ve got to do something,” he said.

So before you cast your ballot on Election Day, take a long, hard look at your looming insurance premiums and ask yourself, “Who can make America’s healthcare affordable again?”

Mr. Wells has already figured out the answer to that question and he plans to vote accordingly.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.