After over 10 years on the job, my 39 year-old son lost his job last year.  He also lost his insurance. With pre-existing high blood pressure and pancreatitis, he was given insurance quotes of $1,200-$1,600 a month, which was completely unaffordable with only unemployment insurance income.  While he was uninsured, he got very sick with pancreatitis, and had two emergency hospital stays that resulted in $60,000 in hospital bills.

Finally, he was able to get on the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) created by the Affordable Care Act.  As a result, he has been able to afford his medication, see doctors to control his condition, and stay out of the hospital.

The cost of the PCIP insurance is $188 a month, a manageable amount when he only had unemployment insurance pay. He is working part-time now, but the job does not have insurance with this job so we are thankful he has the PCIP to continuue to cover himself for insurance.