If insurance companies are allowed to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions as they did in the past, her story could be very different. Sarah was born with a pre-existing condition: a club foot. One of her feet was facing the wrong direction, a birth defect that required two surgeries by the time she was two years old. Surgeons […]

Being able to semi-retire and move closer to her parents means being true to the family values that are important to her. When Laura’s parents began struggling with health issues in their 80s, she knew she didn’t want to wait for a “trigger event” — when one of them became seriously ill — to begin spending more time with them. […]

He and his friends care about protecting the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — and their health. Alex King knows that without the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, he wouldn’t have any health insurance. Because he just turned 25, he can stay on his parents’ insurance plan until he turns 26, one of the provisions of the ACA. After his […]

Without the Affordable Care Act, she would not have been able to get the surgery needed to treat her skin cancer. It’s frightening enough to be diagnosed with cancer, so imagine losing your health insurance just one month later. That’s what happened to Wendy back in 2011, when she was diagnosed with

The Affordable Care Act helped a young woman with an uncommon heart condition get the diagnosis and treatment that saved her life. It has been a long, tough road for Jae Stewart. At 33 years old, she’s already had multiple heart attacks and a stroke, was misdiagnosed with epilepsy and was so sidelined by escalating health issues that she was […]

As a new mother, this transgender woman has faced unique challenges that inspired a new direction for her activism. This is part of a story series about the lives of transgender people. Read the introduction here. When Racquelle Trammell found out that she and her fiancé, Liam Johnson, were expecting their first child, it was a joyous occasion. They knew […]

Enrollment is open to help Flint residents access vital healthcare services. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Flint water crisis is a public health emergency. Every single one of the nearly 100,000 residents of Flint have been exposed to dangerous levels of lead, with no resolution in sight to ensure them access to safe water. Meanwhile, the long-term […]

House Bill 5674 is grounded in medical science and puts patient safety above religious ideology. A medical emergency is a dire situation, no matter who you are or what you believe. But when a patient shows up in the emergency room of a Catholic-affiliated hospital, she doesn’t know whether she’ll be treated based on established medical standards of care or […]

New rule clarifies access to coverage and care for LGBT people, as anti-equality sentiment continues to run high. Discrimination against transgender people is nothing new — and it’s a problem that’s sadly going to get worse before it gets better. (See: North Carolina’s HB2.) Consider Jay Maddock of Kalamazoo, Mich., whose coverage for care he needs as a transgender man […]

One in six hospital beds are governed by rules set by Catholic bishops, not doctors, putting lives and health at risk. If Catholic health systems continue expanding their reach at the current rate, an alarming number of Americans won’t have access to the full spectrum of healthcare services considered standard of care at non-Catholic hospitals. In some cases, that lack […]

The Affordable Care Act has transformed the healthcare landscape, and the work continues. Six years ago, on March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law. Even as he celebrated the historic achievement in healthcare reform, he admitted there was still work to do — and he was right. Since that day, President Obama and healthcare […]