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OpinionOctober 24, 2017

I just received a shocking letter over the weekend from my one and only choice for an individual healthcare policy in this area, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. My policy for 2017 is classified Bronze and it includes a $6,550 deductible per person times two for a family of three and it costs $1,590 per month, which was an increase of 33 percent over the 2016 year. ...

I just received a shocking letter over the weekend from my one and only choice for an individual healthcare policy in this area, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. My policy for 2017 is classified Bronze and it includes a $6,550 deductible per person times two for a family of three and it costs $1,590 per month, which was an increase of 33 percent over the 2016 year. Now for the 2018 year, it has increased to $2,291 (44 percent jump) per month and my deductible is now $6,650 per person.

My sister's individual policy for three people increased by 100 percent from $400 to $800 per month and her house payment is $800 per month. Also please note that these policies are 0 percent copay for drugs and office visits. This is not considered affordable in my book.

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If a person in Cape Girardeau makes $100K per year, this would probably be considered upper middle class and this person would have to make nearly $2,900 per month to pay for the premium after taxes. This would be 34.8 percent of his or hers income. Once again this is not affordable.

I am pleading to our elected officials to get this under control and come to some sort of agreement on our falsely named Affordable Care Act. This cannot continue.

DEAN REEVES, Cape Girardeau

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