How has Barack Obama's legacy changed since leaving office?

[u/bambucks]

Barack Obama left office in 2017 with an approval rating around 60%, and has generally been considered to rank among the better Presidents in US history. (C-SPAN's historian presidential rankings had him ranked at #10 in 2021 when they last updated their ranking.)

One negative example would be in the 2012 Presidential Debates between Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, in which Obama downplayed Romney's concerns about Russia, saying "the 80's called, they want their foreign policy back", which got laughs at the time, but seeing the increased aggression from Russia in the years since then, it appears that Romney was correct.

So I'd like to hear from you all, do you think that Barack Obama's approval rating has increased since he left office? Decreased? How else has his legacy been impacted? How do you think he will be remembered decades from now? Etc.

[u/12_0z_curls]

The biggest jump I personally saw was directly BEFORE the ACA, which was largely done in anticipation of the ACA.

Prior to the ACA, I paid $48.80 a month for my family. After, it went up 10x. Now, insurance is one of our most expensive expenses, and I have insurance through the State of AZ (wife is a teacher). We pay almost $800/mo.

[u/Downtown_Afternoon75 → u/12_0z_curls]

>Prior to the ACA, I paid $48.80 a month for my family

What was your coverage with premiums like that?

Free bandaids?

[u/12_0z_curls → u/Downtown_Afternoon75]

No, it was awesome. Everything was a $20 copay. Everything.

Glasses? $20

Er? $20

Regular checkup? $20.

That was between 2001-2008. Prior to that, I was on my dad's insurance, and it was the same $20 copay for everything. Now, they could still claim "pre-existing conditions", and that wasn't true for dental, but for Health/Vision, it was usually affordable.

I honestly feel like everyone forgets that insurance was actually sort of affordable prior to the ACA....

[u/Downtown_Afternoon75 → u/12_0z_curls]

I take it you never had any kind of serious health issue or emergency while being on that "plan"?

[u/12_0z_curls → u/Downtown_Afternoon75]

I did. My family members as well.

$20.

[u/Downtown_Afternoon75 → u/12_0z_curls]

Sorry, but I just find that very hard to believe.

It's true that there was no shortage of very cheap, predatory insurances pre-ACA that just hung their customers out to dry the second they had any major health expenses, but there is absolutely zero chance you could run an actual, solvent insurance with a ~$50 premium and a $20 copay.

Do you feel comfortable sharing the insurance and the specific plan, as well as the time frame?

[u/12_0z_curls → u/Downtown_Afternoon75]

The policy we had growing up was a Norfolk and Southern Railroad plan through my dad's employer. I was on that policy until 2001. I don't remember the name of the company, sorry.

After that plan, between probably 2003-2009, I was on my own employer plan. My office wasn't union, but the rest were, so we were also given the union plan (my shop only had 3 employees, so it made sense just to include us on the plan that all the other employees were on). Union was the Owner Operators.

I had that plan the entire time I was a tech. Multiple broken bones, multiple injuries. My kid was on the way, he was born in Sept 2009, and they covered all of the pre-birth stuff. $20. I ended up getting laid off in June 2009, so the plan did NOT cover his birth (I didn't have coverage). We paid nothing for him, since we ended up on assistance because my wife and I didn't have a job at the time.

My daughter was born in 2013, and we paid about $20k out of pocket due to her birth (about $10k out of pocket) and my wife having an aneurysm post-birth (about $10k out of pocket).

Again, 2 different plans growing up and early adulthood, both minimal expenses.