In March 2007, doctors diagnosed Amy Wilhite’s daughter, Taylor, with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Taylor received three rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. The cancer treatment produced multiple side effects: problems with her heart and hip, short-term memory loss, steroid-induced diabetes, and a compromised immune system. And so as one can imagine, the lifetime limit on the insurance plan that was covering Taylor was a constant worry, and as Amy explained before introducing the President today, there was always the worry pursuing a treatment now might mean they could not afford an even more important treatment later.
The Wilhites are just one family that will benefit from the fact that the Affordable Care Act, or Health Reform as you probably know it, will prohibit all insurance companies from imposing lifetime benefit limits for plans beginning on or after September 23, 2010. The Wilhite family can now follow doctor’s orders without having to worry about hitting a limit, which Amy described as a weight being lifted. And that was just one of the benefits that the President spoke about this morning:
Fonte: White House
