Robin Beaton found out in a phone call from a member of her cancer support group that President Barack Obama cited her insurance ordeal as a reason to overhaul the U.S. health care system.
“I cried when I finally watched him talk about my case in his speech,” said Beaton, 59, of Waxahachie, Texas, who is battling breast cancer. She saw a rerun of Wednesday’s speech to Congress.
“If he’s able to bring this fight back to what it’s really about, I’ll feel so honored, like my story made a difference,” said Beaton, who runs a booth at an antiques mart. “Every day, I live in fear of them canceling my insurance.”
Beaton said her health insurance was canceled in 2008, days before she was scheduled to undergo a double mastectomy. “She forgot to declare a case of acne,” Obama said in his speech. “By the time she had her insurance case reinstated, her breast cancer more than doubled in size.” Bloomberg News
