ObamaCare Failure: 42-year-old with blood cancer can’t get affordable health insurance

Susan Zurface, a 42-year-old woman with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, recently testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee that under ObamaCare’s underfunded Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program (PCIP) she is unable to obtain affordable health care coverage.

“Without my newly diagnosed illness, I was unable to find any health insurance coverage that would cost less than $350/month with a $10,000 deductible. It was during that research that I came across, in late February, the Ohio High Risk Pool program, offering medical coverage for $250/month with a $2,500 deductible for people with pre-existing conditions. I contacted the insurance company directly and spoke about the coverage. I printed off the application and sent it to my local oncologist for certification. I received it back and was prepared to mail it in, when I learned that the program was no longer accepting new patients due to lack of funding. My options are limited.” (Testimony of Ms. Susan Zurface, Esq., House Committee on Energy and Commerce, hearing on “Protecting America’s Sick and Chronically Ill,” 4/3/2013)

President Obama has broken his promise to Americans that anyone with a pre-existing condition would be able to obtain health care coverage under Obamacare. As ObamaCare is implemented, Americans are finding out the truth, and it’s not pretty.

Luckily, House Republicans are prepared to pass the Helping Sick Americans Now Act, which eliminates an ObamaCare slush fund and transfers $4 billion to help vulnerable Americans with pre-existing conditions and rare diseases. As the Wall Street Journal notes:

“…the Health and Human Services Department has already burned through all the dollars appropriated by the Affordable Care Act for implementation. HHS is now demanding an extra $5.9 billion to set up the law’s insurance exchanges—$2 billion more than it estimated it would take last year—but both Senate Democrats and the House denied the request last month.

HHS responded by announcing that it would simply steal however many dollars it needs from a separate ObamaCare slush fund. Supposedly devoted to “prevention,” this cash has been funneled to everything from bike-path signs to patronage for liberal pressure groups lobbying for fast-food taxes. Now HHS is reaching into this till for at least $454 million this year, with no accountability.

The House leadership wants to zero out $5 billion from the prevention fund so HHS can’t spend it on the ObamaCare exchanges and instead transfer the money to a different ObamaCare program that insures people with pre-existing medical conditions. That program has also run out of money and is closed to new applicants.” (Wall Street Journal, “An Ounce of ObamaCare Prevention,” 4/22/13)