HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAAY) - It’s been one year since the "Affordable Care Act" has been a part of our nation's healthcare.
The Affordable Care Act has been extremely polarizing over the past year.
In fact, many people who are currently on the ACA didn't want to talk on camera for fear of being looked down on.
"Well I can go to the doctor without worrying about finances,” says one Alabama woman, who didn't want to be identified for fear of the stigma surrounding the Affordable Care Act. She says it changed her life.
"I'm just glad to have it that I can go, I'm going right now for an issue that I have, and I've been to the doctor, and it would, the doctor visits would be like, probably around $400. But it's just been that co-pay every time I went,” she says.
She pays $13.75 a week for health insurance, and is one of the many success stories from the implementation of the ACA.
But as many success stories as there are, there's also been major problems.
“We're actually seeing more people who don't have insurance, and there's less money to care for all those patients. That's not a good situation,” says Huntsville Hospital CEO David Spillers.
And it's impacted many people's wallets as well.
"Many people who had good insurance, and by good insurance, I mean they had reasonable co-pays and deductibles, were unable to keep those plans, and they've had to switch to plans that have much higher co-pays and deductibles,” Spillers says.
But experts say that's expected, with how new the law is.
"There will be adjustments along the way. There will be attempts and ways to comply with the law as people understand it, and it will continue to be clarified and analyzed and changed,” says Fred Coffey, a healthcare attorney here in Huntsville.
There have even been issues with national companies not understanding the law.
