'I'm not going to be getting insurance': White House-touted Obamacare 'success' story realizes she can't actually afford it



'I was ecstatic': Washington State woman Jessica Sanford was named by President Obama in a Rose Garden speech about affordable health care last month after she wrote a letter thanking the White House for helping her afford insurance

'I had a good cry': But last week, Sanford received a letter from the state saying that her insurance rate had been miscalculated and she wouldn't be receiving a tax credit for buying a plan like she thought

'They screwed up': Sanford says she still supports the affordable care act and blames the insurance exchange in her home state for the error but she won't be buying insurance at the rate she's now been offered

Sanford was originally quoted a plan of $198 per month but after the state's 'system error' she was quoted $390



A Washington State woman whose story was told by Barack Obama last month as evidence the Affordable Care Act is helping Americans now says the insurance exchange made a mistake and she can’t afford a plan.



Jessica Sanford was named by the president in a Rose Garden speech regarding Obamacare after she wrote a letter to the White House thanking them for helping her get health coverage.



But last week the 48-year-old self-employed single mom got a letter saying she was given a lower insurance quote and higher tax credit by the state’s exchange than she actually qualified for due to a ‘system error.’

Still uninsured: Jessica Sanford of Washington State was named by President Obama as an Affordable Care Act success story but after a state's error was revealed, it turned out she couldn't get a plan after all

The letter was actually one of several she’d received from Washington HealthPlanFinder, which is the state’s Affordable Care Act exchange group.



The first told her of an error regarding her tax credit. It had been miscalculated and would be lower than she expected.



She was disappointed in the uptick in cost for her insurance, but still carried on with her plans to purchase insurance through the exchange at $280 per month instead of the original quote of $198.



But the second letter informed her she’d get no tax credit at all. That resulted in an even higher quote of $390 per month, which Sanford told CNN she just couldn’t afford.



There was a cheaper, ‘bronze’ plan she could buy for $324 per month, but with higher deductibles she couldn’t afford that either.

Before the hammer fell: In a Rose Garden speech, just the pictured pregnant woman famously fell, Obama called Sanford's story, which she emailed to the White House, 'what the Affordable Care Act is all about'

Let down: But after receiving several letters from her state exchange about errors regarding her tax credit, it became clear to Sanford that she couldn't afford to buy into the Affordable Care Act

Sanford apologized in the letter and said they were ‘disappointed to have discovered this issue.’



Meanwhile, it was just last month when Obama stood in the Rose Garden and proudly spoke of how the new health insurance exchanges.

‘I recently received a letter from a woman named Jessica Sanford in Washington State,’ President Obama told America in the October 21 speech. ‘Here's what she had to say:



I am a single mom, no child support, self-employed and I haven't had insurance in 15 years because it's too expensive.’

'I wanted health insurance, wanted this to work. I want it to work for everybody': Sanford says as it stands she can't afford a health plan but blames the state, not the Affordable Care Act as a whole

I was crying the other day when I signed up, so much stress lifted.’

Sanford said she wept when she believed she’d finally be able to afford insurance. And again when she learned she actually couldn’t because of the state’s error.



‘I was embarrassed,’ Sanford told CNN. ‘I had a good cry.’



The self-employed court reporter blames the state of Washington and its exchange for the issue and says she regrets that Obama mentioned her name.



She voted for Obama twice and supports the Affordable Care Act but admits, ‘They screwed up.’



‘Wow. You guys really screwed me over,’ Sanford wrote on the state exchange’s Facebook page. ‘Now I have been priced out and will not be able to afford the plans you offer. But, I get to pay $95 and up for not having health insurance. I am so incredibly disappointed and saddened. You majorly screwed up.’



Sanford who was once so ecstatic to finally be insured is now back to square one.



‘This is it. I'm not getting insurance,’ Sanford told CNN. ‘That's where it stands right now unless they fix it.’

Sanford told NWCN that she's disappointed in her situation and feels for those sharing in the frustration with her.

'I wanted health insurance, wanted this to work. I want it to work for everybody.'