Four-Month-Old Boy with Above Average Weight, Rape Victim Denied Coverage Because of Their “Pre-Existing Conditions”
The Lange Family
Alex Lange, a four-month-old infant living in Colorado, was denied health coverage by Rocky Mountain Health Plans because at 17 pounds, the insurance company decided he weighed too much. A medical director at the insurance company admitted: “If health care reform occurs, underwriting will go away. We do it because everybody else in the industry does it.”
After the media firestorm, the health insurance company relented and agreed to cover the child.
Christina Turner
After being sexually assaulted in Florida, Christina Turner followed her doctor's orders and took a month's worth of anti-AIDS medication as a precautionary measure. She never developed an HIV infection.
Months later, when shopping for new health insurance coverage, Ms. Turner was repeatedly denied coverage because of the precautionary treatment she received after being raped.
America's Affordable Health Choices Act will end discrimination for pre-existing medical conditions and put an end to insurance company cherry-picking the healthiest individuals for coverage at the expense of others.
Bill Caudle joins Army to pay for wife's cancer treatment
The Caudle Family
After Bill Caudle was laid off from his job at PolyOne, a plastics factory in Wisconsin where he had worked for 20 years, he paid $136 a month to continue the family health insurance coverage. Six months later, the cost of coverage tripled to $497. In January, that coverage is scheduled to triple again – $1,370 per month.
Health insurance coverage is critically important because his wife, Michelle, is being treated for ovarian cancer. Unable to find a job that provided health insurance, Bill Caudle enlisted in the U.S. Army.
Read more about the Caudle family>>
America's Affordable Health Choices Act will provide security for individuals, families and small businesses. If you don't have — or you lose — your insurance, the Health Insurance Exchange will provide one-stop comparison shopping including a public option for consumers and affordability credits to help Americans purchase insurance.
Elliot family goes deep into medical debt paying for treatment for critically ill son despite having health insurance
The Elliot Family
Courtney and Isaac Elliot of Tennessee are paying roughly $25,000 in annual out-of-pocket costs to care for their 2-year-old son, Linden, as he suffers with mitochondrial disease, “a rare genetic disorder that often leads to severe disability — and death”
“I didn't pay my electric bill this month and I didn't pay my gas bill this month,” admits Elliott, who must stay home to take care of Linden. “We live paycheck to paycheck….There's no worse feeling than having to weigh your child's needs vs. what you can afford,” she said.
Read more about the Elliot family>>
America's Affordable Health Choices Act will provide affordability for the middle class. It will include yearly caps on what individuals and families will pay out of pocket, put an end to caps on what insurance companies pay, and will generally rein in health costs for families, businesses and government.
David Null finds out his health insurance policy has maxed out as his 7-year-old daughter waits for liver transplant
The Null Family
David Null, a small business owner in Texas, purchased a health insurance policy for his family not knowing the policy had a $35,000 lifetime maximum cap per medical event. When his 7-year-old daughter, Tatum, suddenly became dangerously ill and was in intensive care awaiting a liver transplant, Mr. Null was told that the insurance policy had maxed out.
Mr. Null: “She had no more insurance from this point forward and its hospital policy to collect a $200,000 deposit to proceed. I couldn't believe this was happening. Could this be true? Surely it's a mistake because this is the 'Big Oh No' I was buying protection from. Now my precious child lies just down the hall struggling for her life. Suddenly, not only were we facing the possible death of our child but now the financial death of our family at the same time. How could this be happening to us when we have insurance for this?”
Learn more about the Null family and watch Mr. Null testify before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations>>
America's Affordable Health Choices Act will put an end to caps on what insurance companies pay and end discrimination for pre-existing medical conditions.
Business owner charged above average premiums for insurance coverage for company employees because most are women
Linda Bettinazzi
Linda Bettinazzi is the owner and CEO of a home health care company in Pennsylvania. She pays about $6,800 per employee in annual insurance premiums – $2,000 more than the national average.
Why so much more? Nearly all of her employees are women.
America's Affordable Health Choices Act makes it illegal for insurance companies to use “gender rating” — charging women more than men for the same coverage. Learn more here.