While the media this week focuses almost exclusively on politics & how hard it is to get a seat at the Supreme Court, an event at the Supreme Court today is reminding people that health insurance reform has already improved the lives of many Virginians:
Today, on this third and final day of the Supreme Court hearings on the Affordable Care Act, a coalition will be at the courthouse steps to share personal stories and show support for keeping the law intact.
The court this afternoon takes up the portion of the new law which would expand Medicaid. Linda Christenson, a retired teacher from Arlington, will share her story about how Medicaid helped her and her husband, who suddenly found themselves caring for their 14-year-old granddaughter.
“She had no medical insurance whatever, because her parents had lost both their jobs, and she came with a pre-existing condition. The medication for it was outrageously expensive.”
Christenson says she and her husband live on a fixed income, and were not allowed to add their granddaughter to their health plan. She adds that this was the first time she has had to rely on Medicaid, and credits the program with saving the family from severe financial distress.
But hey, the Roberts court didn’t seem to care about the real-world impacts of Citizens United (i.e. one casino mogul funding virtually all of Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign), so why would people like Antonin Scalia care about people dying because they don’t have health insurace? Gotta break a few eggs to protect the Koch brothers’ preferred political interpretation of the Constitution, know what I’m sayin’? (Photo via Flickr’s Elvert Barnes.)
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