Faces of Health Care Reform

March 26, 2012 -- intro:

quicklist: 1title: Tracy Heimanurl: text: For Tracy Heiman the Affordable Care Act has brought peace of mind. She has a young son with a rare cancer and now she knows that down the road insurance companies cannot deny the family coverage because of his preexisting condition.

The health care law prohibits insurers from excluding coverage for children with pre-existing health conditions. In 2014 the bill will also prohibit insurers from excluding adults with preexisting conditions.

"His cancer is called chronic care. I spent years working on the issue of making sure kids aren't denied insurance just because they have a preexisting condition. Since the law went into effect I've been able to concentrate on other things such as working on the issue of cancer awareness," Heiman says.

Heiman's family currently has good insurance through her husband's job. But for years they worried, afraid if her husband had to change jobs there might not be insurance for their son.

"We are free to look for work at other companies or find work if we lose it because my son won't be discriminated upon with chronic cancer condition. That is a big sense of relief for our family."

-- Ariane DeVogue

media:

quicklist: 2title: Elaine Cornetturl: text: Elaine Cornett feels the same relief. Her daughter has type one diabetes. Although they currently have health insurance they were worried for their future.

"If the entire health care law is struck down, if my husband should lose his job, or a wonderful opportunity were to come up that would mean a shift of insurance we would have to think seriously about whether we could pursue the move or a new job."

She says, "it was a huge relief that I heaved when it was signed into law. It means for us we have more flexibility, we are lucky right now our coverage is good, but if anything changed it would be an enormous financial burden if we weren't able to get coverage."

-- Ariane DeVogue

media:

quicklist: 3title: Samantha Amesurl: text: Samantha Ames is grateful for another provision of the law currently in effect, which allows dependent children up to the age of 26 to stay on their parents' family policy. Between graduating from college and beginning law school Ames was uninsured. She lived without medication for nine months and was fearful that any little accident could ruin her life. After starting law school she took advantage of the student health plan. But then she fell and seriously re-injured an ankle. Ames suffers from loose joints and was told she needed major surgery to fix the problem to be able to walk properly. Had she stayed on the student plan her insurance would have cost from $5,000 to $12,000 in cost sharing. Under the Affordable Care Act she was able to join her parent's policy and have the surgery.

Now she worries that the Supreme Court will strike down the law. "My fear is that things will not only go back to how they used to be, but that there is such animosity in the air right now toward something that is a basic human necessity. "

-- Ariane DeVogue

media:

quicklist: 4title: The Statesurl: text: The state of Washington is home to an awkward political pair: the governor, Chris Gregoire, and the attorney general, Rob McKenna.

One of them loves the health care law, and the other ... not so much.