Share Your Story: Thanks to the Health Care Law...

My son-in-law died as a result of a motorcycle accident 3 yrs ago.  The family had good insurance through his work.  After the COBRA insurance expired, my daughter looked for coverage.  She had to pay exhorbitant rates because she has Celiac's Disease, (which is controlled by diet, not medication), and a thyroid condition, (which is treated with a low-cost medication).  She finally dropped the insurance because it was so expensive, and didn't cover much.  She is now uninsured.  The two little girls were denied any coverage.  The reason?  Because their father died, and they were in counseling.  How sad.  My daughter and son-in-law had worked and paid into the system for years, so it's not like they wanted something for nothing.  My grandkids were eventually covered by a Healthy Children program, which I understand is covered by Obama's health plan.  I am so thankful for that.

I and all my grown children have benefited from the healthcare law.I am now 65 years old, I worked since I was a senior in high school. Each of my four children have worked long enough to retire if they were of retirement age. I say this to say we are a working family. Each of my children but one, has health issues. Two has asthma and diabetis,one has asthma . The three children require Doctors they could never afford if they had to pay out of their pocket. My daughter is on birth control for heavy bleeding.If she had to pay full price for this, she would bleed to death, she doesn't have the money. She pays a small co-pay which isn't bad. Birth control Pills aren't just for sex.I lived through the turbulant 60's, I know what happens when young women and girls do not have access to birth control, pap smears or even abortions. Back in the day if you got pregnant and needed an abortion you either flew to a state that permitted it or went to some dirty little place to have it done. One would often times get infections and nearly die from unsanitary conditions. Our states are broke. It cost more to raise an unwanted child, that the state, most times, have to pay for, than to use a condom or have an abortion. I think it is wrong for any government to force anyone to have children they can't take care of and don't want. It is wrong to make a young girl hear the heartbeat of a feutus before she can have an abortion, don't they feel she is already suffering? Why guilt trip her into having a child she has decided not to have. Churches need to stay out of peoples bedrooms. The government need to work on getting the people back to work so less will have to dependend on their services to survive. I don't feel that abortions should be a form of birth control, some can take it to far. However prevention is a whole new ball game. Say what you may, about birth control and having sex out of wedlock, Girls and guys are going to do what they want, so let them know how to protect themself. There are worse things out there than having a baby. There is still STD's to worry about. Aids still kill if one doesn't have money. To deny woman the healthcare they need to survive will set this country back to where it was in the 60's. I am old now, I don't have to worry about getting diseases or getting pregnant, but I got kids, I got grand daughters. I will fight to keep them in the position to get what they suppose to have. A woman's rights doesn't seem worth much to all the men in charge these days. I will " Fight the Powers That be"           

Thanks to the health care law, my 21 year old son will be able to complete his education while still being covered on my employer health care plan.  My husband is a semi-retired physician who retired from practice 9 years ago.  At that time, he asked me to return to the workforce in order to provide health insurance coverage for our  family.  At the time, our daughter was 18 and our son was 13.  My employer covered our daughter, but every year I had to repeatedly provide proof that she was a full time college student.  When she turned 23 and was doing an elective as a medical student in a remote village in Mexico without phone or internet access, my employer dropped her medical coverage  even though my empoyer's human resources staff had assured me that she would be covered until she turned 24.  Our daughter's birthday is in August. On the Saturday of that Labor Day weekend, we received a letter of notice from the insurance carrier that as of midnight,  Sunday, August 31, our daughter would no longer have health insurance.  My husband and I were both distraught.  Unable to contact our daughter and worried that some calamity would befall her so far away.I sent emails to the entire corporation staff, beginning with the President on down about how we had been misinformed by human resources and that if the corporation truly cared about its employees, when they informed the insurance carrier to drop our daughter, the least they could have done was send a courtesy letter informing us of our daughter's loss of coverage.  I never received any word from anyone. We were forced to buy a Cobra to cover our daughter.  The Cobra was very expensive.Now that the Healthcare bill has passed, our son is able to continue on my plan until he is 26.  He will be able to graduate from  UT and complete law school without my having to provide any sort of proof to my employer.  I still feel that we should have had a single payer option and that health insurance should be tied to the individual and not to employers.  A loss of a job is now catastrophic because peole lose their health insurance and any health crisis can put the family into bankruptcy.