William ‘Tiger” of Hendersonville
William “Tiger” of , writes:
I moved to Nashville in 1982, had a few road gigs early on (Razzy Bailey, pre-fame Alan Jackson, and unknowns). I performed at the late lamented Opryland theme park from 1989 – 1997, and have primarily been an in-town live performer since then (wedding bands, country bands, theater, solo jazz & classical guitar gigs, etc) and have been teaching for a long time. I currently teach at 4 area colleges (Fisk, TSU, Volunteer State and Cumberland) as an adjunct, which means ‘at 1/3rd the money of a full timer and no benefits (health or retirement)’.
The last time I was able to afford health insurance prior to the ACA was 2007, when my premiums for BCBST were over $350/month just for me (the lowest rate possible at the time). I got married, and had to drop insurance entirely. Then, America joined the rest of the civilized world, or at least made a baby step, by passing the ACA. My wife & I paid $13 the first year, $130 last year, and will be paying just under that this year (my income fluctuates year to year so it is difficult to say for sure how much these differences are a result of rates changing or my subsidies changing.
I feel like I am about 6 hours away from bankruptcy at all times. While the insurance that we have now is far from ‘good’ (very high deductible), it is still at least insurance, so doctors visits, prescriptions., etc are heavily discounted from what they would be if we were NOT insured. If we lose ACA coverage, I have no idea what we will do – other than hope that we remain healthy enough to lve long enough to get Medicare.
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