Health Insurance - Florida

 

With birthday cake and balloons, a small group of Lake County Democrats celebrated the one-year anni­versary of President Barack Obama's signing into law health-care legislation that made sweeping changes to the nation's medical-care system.;

As part of this week's celebration at the W.T. Bland Pub­lic Library, five Lake women, spoke about how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act benefited each of them.

Diane Johnson, 52, re­counted how she spent eight years without health insur­ance after quitting her job at Valencia Community College to help her husband start his Own business. But Johnson could not be covered under her husband's insurance plan. And because she had a heart problem, she was denied insurance coverage for the pre-existing condition — even policies that would have required her to pay $1,500 a month, she said.

Under the new law, Johnson enrolled in the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, which makes insurance cov­erage available to those de­nied coverage by private in­surance companies because of a pre-existing condition.

"I can't begin to tell you the peace of mind I now have," said Johnson, of Mount Plym­outh. "It's a real gamble to not have health insurance. This has really been a godsend. It's really wonderful."

Johnson now pays premi­ums of about $450 a month and has a $2,000 deductible.

The legislation has been criticized by conservatives as too expensive.

"We've got a health-care problem that needs to be ad­dressed. But it needs to be done in a way that will not bankrupt this country" said Joe Rudderow, a Republican state committeeman for Lake County and former chairman of Lake's Republican Party "You can't just throw the checkbook to the wind to make everyone happy."

A federal judge in Florida this year ruled the entire health-care law unconstitu­tional because of a require­ment that Americans get health insurance starting in 2014. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson later ruled that the legislation can continue to be implemented while appellate courts review the law's consti­tutionality Other federal ap­pellate courts are also review­ing constitutional challenges.

Gerri Rivers, 67, of Eustis said her grandkids — a teen­age girl and a 22-year-old man — in Miami now can enroll into her daughter's health-insurance plan. The health­care law allows dependent children to stay on their par­ents' policy until they are 26. Usually, children were taken off their parents' plans at 18. Without the change, she said her grandson couldn't afford health insurance and medi­cation for his asthma through his employer's plan.

"He no longer has to worry if he has to go to the emer­gency room," Rivers said.

Nancy Hurlbert, chairwom­an of the Lake Democratic Party said that, over time, the law will allow more people to receive medical care: "People will see the benefits in the coming years."