Stories of Health Reform: Caroline and Janice
Across the country, millions of American families are being helped by health reform.
Erin McCann, form OFA Missouri, shares the story of Caroline, a grandmother in St. Louis:
When asked what health reform means to Caroline, she simply said, “It’s very practical. It means my granddaughter is covered. It also means that when she’s 26, she’ll be able to get coverage, because [insurance companies] can no longer deny her based on her asthma.
We all have heard of or known or read about too many people who have lost everything because they got sick.
She ended with saying “I have much more faith in the government than the insurance companies to take care of their citizens.”
From Tennessee, Brett Cantrell, shares Janice's story:
My daughter, who is 36 years old and was born with Down Syndrome, could never get insurance because she was disqualified under the pre-existing condition clause. I first started advocating for health reform 34 years ago by writing my senators and have been pushing for reform ever since by writing letters to the editor.
Because of the Affordable Care Act, I just got letter from my insurance company telling me that my policy is no longer subject to a lifetime maximum of $250,000. My daughter can no longer be denied access to insurance because of her pre-existing condition.
It is so important to me that people know that health reform is not just for poor people, but that it helps middle-class working people like me and my family—and if it is repealed we would lose control of our own health care and my daughter would have no insurance and we would lose the protection that came with eliminating the lifetime maximum.
Today, President Obama endorsed commonsense changes to the Affordable Care Act, to give states greater flexibility to meet the health care needs of their residents, starting in 2014. You can find out how health reform is already helping millions of Americans in your community here.
