The Affordable Care Act has helped me and millions of others, get the preventive care they need.

I recently turned 50 and went for my annual physical.  My doctor recommended that I make an appointment for a colonoscopy.  I did that, and on the day of the appointment was shocked that I was going to have to pay $2,300 for it.   And they wanted cash up front as this wasn't covered under my plan.  I had no idea.  I did not have $2,300 in my budget that day, so I left.

Furthermore, upon investigation, I found that I wasn't even entitled to my insurance company’s preferred rates because I had “used up” my $300 preventative care maximum.   I didn't even know I had a “preventative maximum”, which I had apparently used by getting my yearly OBGYN appointment, physical and mammogram.

I waited approximately a year and exactly six months after the Affordable Care Act was enacted, I was able to change my rotten health plan for one that had unlimited preventive care.

I had my colonoscopy that November and only paid the co-pay.  What a relief!   Without the new healthcare law, I still probably wouldn't have had the procedure.

Now I’m experiencing another benefit from heatlh reform.  My son is a recent college graduate.  This is very happy time of course, and because of the changes to the healthcare laws, he is not going to be without health insurance because he is now out of school.  Currently, he has a minimum wage job at a pizza place, but no benefits.

I hope that his college degree will of course get him a better job someday, complete with medical insurance, but until the economy improves and that happens, at least he's covered under our plan!