I have worked in the medical supply industry for many years and we are hearing more and more about companies that have changed their policies without people realizing it. It's a sad situation.

Sorry, Judy, but the Republicans HAVE put forth other ideas. They just are not socialized medicine...which IS the goal of the liberal/progressives. Health Savings Accounts, catastrophic coverage options for the young, and they are also FOR not canceling those with pre existing conditions too...but NOTHING should be controlled by gov't laws and regulations and depts. Let the private arena do it. And as for the oft stated 'every American has a right to health care'....it is simply NOT true. The 'rights' are all stated in our Constitution. And, one does not need insurance to get 'health care'. Just go to a doctor and pay your fee and you get 'care'. If you have no insurance, ask for your discounted price for cash payments. Or go to a 'free' clinic...not really free, because they are tax payer funded ultimately unless funded by private donations. You will never convince me, as I am almost 70 years old and spent a lot of years, in which I got a lot of health care WITHOUT any insurance. There was not any. One had to be self responsible and save money and PLAN to spend money on health care instead of on other nonsense. Now, YES, there will always be those who are honestly in need and they should be helped to get health care....but there was no need to mandate that everyone eventually move into a single payer system, run by the gov't in order in expand Medicaid. And, one final note...there was no need to create 'sub par' plans by adding on all these gov't requirements to a minimum policy....especially contraception services and abortion costs for all. To force people to pay for what they either do not need, or do not approve of, so it's 'free' to everyone. There always has been Planned Parenthood...and they are still being funded with tax payer monies, even while we're being forced to shell out more of our money to pay for such nonsense. Condoms and BC pills etc are NOT expensive. I paid cash for my pills without insurance, back in the days when they first came out and cost us $30/mo. We just chose to do without something else. WE didn't suffer, we were responsible and we made responsible choices. I am NOT going to change my opinion on this. And I'll not comment again on it.

Johannes, you're turning this issue into a political hot potato. The ACA is not "socialized medicine" and if you truly knew what socialized medicine is you would refrain from using that pejorative word. What has prevented those who are anti-ACA from proposing a viable alternative? This should not be a political issue. It should be a right of every American to have affordable health care and it is the responsibility of those who represent us in Washington to devise a plan to achieve that goal. Enough of the bickering and fighting. If the present plan isn't good enough, conceive one that is.

It is impossible to keep this issue from being political because there is a major philosophical perspective about living in our country that is in play here: ONE side has tried for nearly 50 years, in more ways than one, to move this country towards socialism because that side believes that government can do things better and they WANT this health care plan to really be all about a one payer, gov't controlled system. The OTHER side believes that the Constitution should be followed, and that gov't control of the people is NOT the way to keep America a country that is free. Health care controlled by gov't would be the last item needed for the country to officially become a socialist or communist country and those who believe in the Constitution and small gov't and self responsibility are going to fight this tooth and nail, forever. If there WAS a desire to keep this non political, all that needed to be done in the beginning to assure that the uninsured had insurance, would have been to change the criteria for acceptance into Medicaid nationwide. As it is, this plan is still forcing many of those who were happy being self sufficient and out of gov't control, into being on expanded Medicaid rolls, along with those who were uninsured before....and we'll still have many uninsured when it's over. And, make no mistakes in saying this is about plans changing for those with private insurance, because as soon as 2014 is over, all those with group insurance policies will face cancellations too. One last thing that should be stressed is that health insurance does NOT insure quality health CARE....so the word CARE should not even be part of the bill. Socialized medicine does NOT provide quality health CARE and it never will. ACA is proving to be NOT affordable for most and certainly will not be CARE!

Thank you for the info on the ACA. My husband and I are going through the process, technical glitches and all. Yesterday we were enrolled and the cost savings for us were tremendous. The program really does work. My husband had preexisting health issues that made him have health insurance through our state run CHIP program which is 50% more expensive premium wise than any other insurance program in our state. Now we will pay for health insurance at a regular cost. Please, please NO politics in this issue. We are ALL Americans FOR America who have a 2 party political system. That is all. "By the people, for the people" as the US Constitution says. ACA is a good start at helping people affected by illness to get affordable health care coverage that helps health care costs to be lowered in the long run.

This is a apolitical article about the Affordable Care Act. They deliberately chose not to insert politics into the subject matter, so your petty and ridiculous comments regarding who said what and when have no place here. Grow up, people.

The only lawmakers who "made the repeated pledge of being able to keep your plan and your doctor" were the president of the United States and those from the Democrat party. You could at least say "some specific lawmakers" if you don't want to identify them.

You should be more accurate in your reporting. In your first paragraph where you address "lawmakers saying that you would be able to keep your plan", there were very specific lawmakers and the president of the US who made the repeated pledge of "being able to keep your plan and your doctor". You can search any database you wish and I don't believe that you will come up with one instance where a Republican lawmaker made that statement. You may wish to keep politics out of the ACA issue, but it is truly a creation from one side of the aisle. Please don't put all lawmakers in the same basket.