Bainbridge resident’s healthcare post goes viral
Published 12:13 pm Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Jay Wells, a Bainbridge resident with a wife and three children, received a notice from Blue Cross Blue Shield two weeks ago that said his insurance premium was more than doubling starting in January 2017.
Angry and confused, Wells posted to Facebook a photo of the letter that informed him his costs were jumping from $711.83 to $1,872.17, quoting President Barack Obama as saying, “If you like your healthcare plan, you’ll be able to keep your healthcare plan, period.”
Obama enacted the Affordable Care Act in 2010 in an effort to increase health insurance quality and affordability. Wells’ point was that it had done just the opposite for his family.
It exploded from there.
Two weeks, 13,441 shares and more than 3,000 likes later, Wells story has gained national attention.
“I figured some of our friends would sympathize, and I had no idea,” Wells said. “The thing just spread like wildfire. Everybody was sharing it on Facebook. It just took a life of its own.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump retweeted the photo of Wells’ letter last week, and on Monday, Fox News approached him about doing a story.
By now, the image of the letter has taken on a life of its own, Wells said. But what he is most relieved to see is that his family isn’t the only one being hit with huge premiums like this.
“People come up to you in a restaurant, or on a soccer field or wherever you are and say, ‘I’m so glad you are speaking out about this, our family had the same situation happen,’” Wells said. “Everybody has a story, and it may not be exactly like ours.”