The Supreme Court could decide to take health insurance away from millions of people after this week's oral arguments in
King v. Burwell, the challenge to federal subsidies going to people who purchased their insurance on the federal exchange. Each one of those millions has a story, some unremarkable and some complicated and tragic and fraught with destructive potential. In a must-read,
Huffington Post profiles six individuals whose lives have been substantially bettered by Obamacare and who are now looking into a precipice of what the court might do.
Karen Hines lives in Virginia. She's survived breast cancer three times, and at 59 is the primary caregiver for her 84-year-old mother, who has had a stroke and is suffering from dementia. She couldn't get health insurance before the law and can only keep it now because it's affordable. Losing those subsidies would mean she would have to go back to work full-time, and figure out some kind of alternative care for her mother. She would have to dig into her retirement savings to provide one year of full insurance coverage, and after that year, all bets are off and she'll have to make a choice that's much dicier as a cancer survivor. "I'll scrimp back as far as I can to make sure that I can cover catastrophic care," Hines said. "Everything else goes."
Joe Lucas is a house painter in Pennsylvania, who worked hard his whole life—"40 to 60 hours for almost 30 years"—so that he could retire from his profession before his body gave out and live comfortably. He paid off his mortgage early and was saving for the next phase when in 2010, he had an aortic aneurysm. He was "lucky" enough in that year to have qualified for Medicaid, and his $69,000 hospital bill was covered. That coverage didn't last and he signed up for the temporary Obamacare risk pool, at $257 a month, until 2014 when he could get full insurance. He pays about $150 a month, after a $220 tax credit and that allows the 52-year-old to not have to work 60 hour weeks, and pays for the four prescriptions he requires and the annual $11,000 in cardiology tests he must undergo. "If I don’t have the insurance, I can't see my cardiologist, that means I don't get prescriptions for my blood pressure—which is what's basically keeping me in good health," he said.
Texan Jay Joshi is 60, and her diabetic husband Kaye is 62. He had a dry-cleaning business until the economic downturn, when it was lost. They paid for his insulin out of pocket and saved up to buy prescriptions in India, when they could visit there. Jay worked as a travel agent, a business which has also now collapsed. Because of Obamacare, they could finally get coverage for themselves and their two sons at about $300 a month, after subsidies. She can pay for that out of both their savings and her part-time as an after-school teacher. "I've just been keeping my fingers crossed that Obamacare is not taken away, the subsidy is not taken away," Joshi said. "Because I believe, looking at my invoice that I have, it’s something that I don't think I can afford without the subsidy."
David Price wanted what a lot of Americans want, to have a second career and follow his dream of being an adult educator. His previous job provided insurance, which was fortunate because he was diagnosed with melanoma in 2007. Unfortunately, the cancer has come back and he requires ongoing treatment. "'If they pull the subsidy, we're going to have to stay in ACA and pay the full cost,' Price said. That would mean more than $13,000 a year in health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs. Price said his twice-yearly cancer checkups cost $2,000 each, and having new melanomas removed costs up to $5,000." That means spending his retirement savings to stay alive.
Sheila Tyson's story is all too familiar. She became desperately ill two years ago and lost her job and every penny she had to cover her treatment and liver transplant. That transplant and a recurrence of Hepatitis C means expensive, lifelong drugs and treatment to keep her alive. She nearly lost everything, but the timing of her illness was at least good—she could get Obamacare for a $19/month premium, after subsidies. The Alabaman still hasn't been able to find work and barely manages on $900 a month in disability benefits and $90 in food assistance. Without the subsidy: "No way. If I did keep it, I would be choosing between having a roof over my head and my life," she said. "Where would I cut corners? It would be food—I would be trying to go to food banks."
Arizonan Jared Blitz was born with a heart condition called aortic valve stenosis. One of his heart valves is too narrow, and he knows he has another surgery looming soon too keep his heart functioning. His subsidy is small enough that he figures he could afford his Obamacare premium without it, at least for now. But the loss of other customers, who won't be able to pay their premiums without subsidies, would almost surely lead his insurer to hike premiums. He fears worse, though, that a bad decision will cripple the law and lead to a full repeal. And with full repeal, there goes the protection he finally got of being able to buy insurance, even with his heart defect. "They may as well line me up and kick me in the balls," Blitz said. "That's just brutal to do to people. I don't get it. There's no humanity in what's going on."