Students can now start making choices about their health coverage. But for San Antonio College nursing student Jami Boatwright, she's not sold.
While it's the nursing student's passion to care for others, she said when it comes to her own health coverage she would rather roll the dice.
That's even after she attended a forum Monday morning on campus.
"I have three kids and I'm a single mom," said Boatwright. "So even $100 is not in my budget."
It's that kind of thinking U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez was trying to change as he spoke to a standing room only crowd of students.
"It's less than the cost of a monthly iPhone or other device," Perez said. "This is an income based system. We've been working with people to show them already how easy it is."
He said it's as simple as going to Healthcare.org and plugging in your salary to find a plan in your budget.
"We have the lowest rate of inflation in health care in over 50 years," Perez said.
That's a discount that other students like 34 year-old psychology student Jacob Wong is excited about taking advantage of. Wong said he's tired of gambling with his health.
"I don't have insurance because all this time it would've taken up half my paycheck," said Wong.
He said he was once dropped by his health insurance plan after he broke a finger. Now the art teacher is looking forward to finding a plan that sticks.
"In San Antonio we have almost 308,000 people who are uninsured and can benefit from the Affordable Care Act," said Mayor Julian Castro. He said instead of using the emergency room for health insurance Texans can now have real coverage.
Masthead
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