Obamacare Success Stories Showing Up In S. Florida

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The first heatlhcare deadline is fast approaching. If you want to start the new year with insurance you have to enroll on healthcare.gov. by Monday. The Marketplace got off to a rocky start. But now that more people are signing up, more people are having success.

Susan McClellan, told CBS4's Jamie Guirola, "We had no good luck at the very start when we were trying to sign up and it took about 10 days before we were actually able to get any feedback and get my application saying yes I was registered on the site."

When the Healthcare marketplace opened in October, Susan was eager to get a new insurance plan under the Affordable Care Act. But her excitement quickly flat-lined.

Susan said, "Oh it was discouraging, Heck ya, it was like, ugh, I want this to work."

So Susan, a self-employed 56-year-old decided to talk to a healthcare navigator, then registered on healthcare.gov. When she saw the better and cheaper plans available to her; her excitement was resuscitated.

Susan said, "I was doing handsprings and I was thrilled because its more affordable for me and it gives me an extra $75/month that I have in my pocket vs somebody using it on their golf course."

Susan got out of a plan that had a huge deductible, didn't cover doctors visits or medications. By trading up to a better policy; she brought her monthly premium down from $258 to $150.

Susan said, "I get my mammograms, my colonoscopies for free. Before I did not and everything now that I'm paying out of pocket will go toward my deductible."

Susan isn't the only one surprised with success. Donald Wilson also tried using healthcare.gov when it opened. He was discouraged but not deterred.

Donald said, "Being a business owner, I'm used to not accepting no as an answer."

The 48-year-old has a preexisting condition and didn't give up and it paid off. His high-priced policy was $1219/month. Under Obamacare it was reduced to $670.

Donald said, "Its almost my car payment that im going to be saving every month which is fantastic. Its a big difference in my life."

Donald bypassed the Marketplace website and went directly to the insurance carriers which offer the same plans under the ACA."

Donald said, "I didn't, I didn't, I never dreamed it would go down that much my hope was to go down $200-$300/month."

There are many options to enroll. And if you wait it out; you may be happy with what you get.

Donald says he used a private website called thehealthsherpa.com. It helped people find plans they might like before actually having to register on healthcare.gov.