File:Carolyn Comeau On The Impact Of Health Insurance Reform (4444465706).jpg

This afternoon at a press conference in the Capitol, Carolyn Comeau talked about how she will benefit from much-needed health insurance reform:

I’m Carolyn Comeau. I live in Ashville, North Carolina. I was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago at age 45. I got the diagnosis call as my husband was on an important job interview for a position that would allow us to have good, high-quality benefits. Thank heaven he got those benefits in that job. However, seven months later, he was laid off. He works in the construction industry, which was hard hit in our state — and laid off in the middle of my treatment. We had no choice but to get — then get benefits through COBRA and that was $1,058 a month for 18 months. We looked to the individual market for private-insurance, we did not qualify for Medicaid, and had a disastrous meeting with a representative from a company who quoted us $2,000-plus a month for me only. You feel, in a sense, tainted. Being a woman should not be a pre-existing condition.

It’s hard to describe the stress of going through a catastrophic illness and the side-effects of the treatment that you receive and worrying about the insurance mess at the same time and how you are going to make it through as a family. The light on the horizon that we thought we had was the North Carolina high-risk pool. I currently pay into that $400 a month. I have a $5,000 deductible. However, my oncologist’s office does — is not a member, is not affiliated with that program. And the latest update is that I just got word that there is an exclusionary policy with the high-risk pool for the genetic testing that my doctors want me to have, which would possibly impact my treatment and my future course as well as the futures of my children.

And the final highlight is that recently my husband and I did our taxes. And as we sat down and saw everything in black and white, we saw that very nearly half our income went to health-related costs. And that is just for me. My children are on the North Carolina CHIP program and my husband is uninsured.