"I was an ObamaCare guinea pig." Journalist discusses her often frustrating, yet ultimately rewarding,experience with the Affordable Care exchange website in New York.

Here is what Sally Kohn wrote about her experiences:  

I signed up. I saved. And so will millions of Americans. 

Honestly, I couldn’t wait to sign up for ObamaCare — not because I talk about it on television, but because I’m tired of being ripped off by my insurance company. 

I live in New York State — which for several decades has had the highest individual insurance premiums in the nation. 

For the past three years, since leaving a job at a non-profit organization and then exhausting my COBRA, I have relied on the individual insurance market to get coverage for myself, my partner and our daughter. Ideologues may not like ObamaCare, but my wallet and my family’s health sure do. 

Three years ago when I was shopping for insurance, there weren’t that many options to choose from. And the plan I ended up with is expensive and, to put it bluntly, crappy. 

Kohn then goes on to describe the health insurance she already had, and then went on to discuss her attempts to utilize on the online exchange:  

So I logged onto the New York State health insurance exchange website. Yeah, I had a few false starts — the website was down a lot early on either because of service glitches or overwhelming traffic. 

For a few days, I couldn’t do anything at all on the website. 

Then for a day or so I could “log-in” but not complete registration. And then for a day, I could answer the questions to complete my registration but not actually complete the process. 

 On one occasion, I got so frustrated at the stalled exchange website that I actually shook my computer. 

Not pleasant. 

But finally, early on the first Saturday morning following the launch of the exchange site — probably because the rest of the state (unlike my five-year-old) was still asleep -- I was able to log-in and complete my registration and check out all my options for insurance. 

 There were literally 50 plans that were better than my current insurance -- both with lower premiums, lower out-of-pocket costs and better coverage. And there were ten plans with a higher premium than my current insurance, but with lower deductibles. 

So -- and here’s an important point -- the reason that more people haven’t signed up for coverage yet is probably that, just like me, they needed to take some time (and first, find some time!) to weigh all the options.

Ultimately Ms. Kohn settled on a Gold plan:

 This option will cost my family $931 per month — $408 per year less than my previous crappy plan and a $5,000 savings in deductibles. A big win for me and my family financially and in terms of what’s covered. 

Plus in the past, I spent several days looking for and comparing insurance options. Under ObamaCare, even with the slow and sticky website, I spent a total of four hours — to save over $5,400. That kind of return on investment would make Warren Buffett drool.

And finally Ms. Kohn closed with this:  

We’ve suffered through four years of outlandish attacks against ObamaCare -- that it will kill our grandmothers, or at least just kill our economy. But the fact is that ObamaCare has created a private marketplace so that millions of American families like mine can get affordable, quality health insurance while keeping more of our hard-earned money. 

Ideologues may not like ObamaCare, but my wallet and my family’s health sure do.

So at this point I am sure many are thinking. "Well big deal Gryphen, you found yet another liberal journalist, on yet ANOTHER liberal news site, pushing progressive propaganda about their positive experiences with Obamacare. I am sure the Obama administration put them up to it."

Well not exactly.

You see while the writer, Sally Kohn, IS a liberal, the news site that published her article is Fox News. You may remember them as the MOST strident anti-Obamacare cable news channel in existence.

So does this mean that Fox News is finally noticing the writing on the walls? Or did this one simply slip past them?

I don't know, but I predict that this is just the beginning of positive news stories about the Affordable Care Act that are going to show up on Fox News in the months and years to come.