called me just this week and said he IS going to start getting health insurance.
I wonder if this is because of Obamacare...?

The FEMA reservist situation parallels the federal firefighters, who also didn't have health benefits until a petition was started which got 125k signatures and media coverage. That was in June of this year. By July it came to the attention of the administration and was rectified.

If they become eligible for the insurance, they will have to pay the entire cost with no government subsidy, except for those times that they are on duty for FEMA. The government cost share is 72%, so that's a lot that won't be covered most of the time for these workers.

I signed the petition, I'm just concerned that it won't do as much good as we would hope.

I mention the parallel with the federal firefighter situation. The firefighter who created the petition which led to raising awareness about this issue is very pleased with the health benefits they eventually received.

I'm just saying that there is still a potential affordability issue, since most of the time, the worker is going to have to cover 100% of the cost, which is substantial. I'm sure that anyone that is able to afford it is very pleased with the coverage, but I suspect that many won't be able to afford it.

will bring us back around to a single-payer healthcare system.