I don't understand the point of these articles. The first example in the story is a woman that went from more expensive minimal coverage that didn't include th

I don't understand the point of these articles. The first example in the story is a woman that went from more expensive minimal coverage that didn't include the drugs she was using, to better coverage overall with no mention whatsoever as to how much she used to pay for the drugs before (which is presumably nearly full price or some sort of discount through the manufacturers which isn't cheap either). The other examples were also of people that have apparently never changed health insurance plans or gotten prescriptions that weren't covered under their previous insurance plans. Or even actually read what their insurance covers. I've had individual health insurance forever since both my parents and I were and are self employed business owners. Welcome to the world I lived in before Obamacare. Welcome to the world I live in now. I have wasted many days negotiating with insurance companies and doctors' offices in the past for both myself and my parents over drugs that were minimally covered. Think along the lines of $500+ worth of glaucoma prescriptions in a month that insurance only covered $5 of....yes, $5. And then a week without any prescriptions and dangerously high intraocular pressure trying to get the doctor to prescribe something cheaper when they themselves don't know how much anything costs and will just throw the whole medicine cabinet at you in hopes that something sticks. Or how I have a prescription for Adderall and every refill used to be an exercise in explaining to the pharmacist that they should call my insurance company because I already have a pre-authorization filed with them so I pay $20 instead of paying $300 every time. My silver-level ACA insurance plan isn't the best ever and it's a bit pricey (well, so were my previous insurance plans), but I no longer stress out about losing my insurance coverage, I have a good idea as to what is covered and what isn't, and my insurance company and doctors and pharmacists do the best they can to accommodate my requests. I even keep running into _pharmacy techs_ that ask me with a priceless facial expression if I really, really, really want the specific asthma inhalers and quantity that I'm picking up because they keep experiencing sticker shock - "I can ask the pharmacist and your doctor to get you a different one" naw, they're all expensive, they were always expensive, and nothing will change it. Welcome to my world. 8) ACA isn't perfect but it's a hell of a lot better than the state of things before and here's to better healthcare reform in the future.