We’re still several weeks away from knowing what the Supreme Court will decide about the Affordable Care Act, but there are a few thousand folks who will be watching the decision more anxiously than most:
Cancer patient Kathy Watson voted Republican in 2008 and believes the government has no right telling Americans to get health insurance. Nonetheless, she says she’d be dead if it weren’t for President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Now the Florida small businesswoman is worried the Supreme Court will strike down her lifeline. Under the law, Watson and nearly 62,000 other “uninsurable” patients are getting coverage through a little-known program for people who have been turned away by insurance companies because of pre-existing medical conditions.
“Without it, I would have been dead on March 2,” Watson said of the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, known as PCIP. That’s when she was hospitalized for a life-threatening respiratory infection.
It’s not clear how the Supreme Court will rule on Obama’s law, but Watson’s case illustrates the potential impact of tying everything in the far-reaching legislation to the fate of one provision, the unprecedented requirement that most Americans carry health insurance.
Fate of ‘uninsurables’ hinges on Supreme Court
Are you a member of a PCIP? Tell us about it in our discussion forum!
Related posts:
- Federal Appeals Court Declares Health Insurance Mandate Unconstitutional
- PCIP Enrollment Swells to Over 50,000
- HHS To Cut Health Insurance Premiums for Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans
- “Orphan” Health Insurance: What If Your Health Insurer Stops Selling Your Plan?
- Obamacare: How Much Could I Owe If I’m Uninsured?
Loading ...
Follow Us!