Back in the day, Candidate Obama told a touching story about his mother’s struggle to pay her medical bills while battling cancer. Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, died of ovarian cancer at the age of 53, an event Obama said in part inspired him to tackle healthcare reform.
But what kind of coverage would Dunham receive today under the Senate bill as it stands right now?
In this experiment, Dunham is still 50-years-old (her age in 1992 when she received her Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii). She is the single mother of two grown children, so she no longer has dependents. In this model, she has just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
SNIP..........
If Dunham did manage to land a sweet-ass $50,100+/yr anthropological gig, she would not receive government assistance, she would pay between $5,200 and $7,100 in premiums, and $1,900 in out-of-pocket expenses, according to the same CBO report. (Note: the $26,500-$50,100 income range pay the exact same OPE: $1,900. Just sayin’.)
So for this experiment, Model Dunham is thoroughly middle class and would certainly have to purchase some kind of insurance, since the Senate Democrats dropped plans to expand Medicare, and mandates all Americans purchase private insurance, or pay a punitive fine. Purchasing healthcare on the private market would ordinarily be expensive, but Dunham has the added burden of having ovarian cancer, quite the costly disease.
SNIP.........
If the loophole remains, the Dunham in our example had better pray the costs of her ovarian cancer treatment don’t exceed her annual limits (some chemotherapy drugs like Folotyn cost $30,000 a month, which would almost eat up Dunham’s entire salary).
The poster has a great OP spelling out the costs, loopholes and coverages
so you really need to read the whole thing.
the whole thing is here:
http://trueslant.com/allisonkilkenny/2009/12/17/would-the-senate-healthcare-bill-have-helped-obamas-mother/
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