Marla Tipping’s 14-year-old son, Cam, has to have his blood cleaned every two weeks. He has a rare condition that makes his body produce too much cholesterol.
Tipping says her family has had “to be absolutely vigilant in never having a lapse in coverage…because many carriers would never carry you with a preexisting condition again.”
That was the case before the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Now, children like Cam cannot be denied coverage because of a preexisting condition. (Similar protections for adults are set to start in 2014.) While Tipping says she and her husband still pay between $20-25,000 out of pocket every year for costs their insurance won’t cover, the ACA at least guarantees that they’ll be able to find some kind of policy for Cam, even if they are forced to leave their current plan.
