I’m a mother, a wife, and small-business owner and until last week I could not recall a Supreme Court decision that has affected me in any significant way. The court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act has affirmed that my family and others like ours can continue to have access to affordable care.
My husband Dustin and I own and operate Da Kind Soups in Evergreen. Though we are young and healthy, something unexpected and scary happened to us a couple years ago and we found ourselves without health insurance when we needed it most. Thanks to health care reform, we were able to get coverage even with my husband’s pre-existing condition.
Like many new business owners, we spent every waking hour at our restaurant training employees, building customer relationships and putting every resource we had into making it a success. In doing this, we realized we could no longer afford the COBRA insurance we held from previous jobs while we were getting our business off the ground.
Though attempts were made to secure new insurance for the family, Dustin was denied because of prior neck and back pain. Shortly after that, Dustin, who was healthy and only 41 years old, suffered a severe stroke as a result of an aneurism. We were scared and uninsured and uncertain how we would afford the care Dustin needed and also hold on to our business. There were many moments when I thought we might lose everything.
Our customers were wonderfully supportive during this time. In fact, it was not long after Dustin’s stroke that a customer told us about Getting Us Covered, the new comprehensive health plan for Coloradans with pre-existing conditions. Through Getting Us Covered, we were fortunate enough to get an insurance plan we could afford, allowing us to focus on Dustin’s recovery.
We are still paying initial hospital bills, but without this insurance I’m not sure how we would have been able to afford multiple additional surgeries and the extensive follow-up care Dustin needed after his release from the hospital. We would probably not have been able to keep our business either, which would have resulted in our employees losing their jobs and our community losing their friendly neighborhood soup restaurant. The Supreme Court decision means that my family can be confident that our coverage will continue and that our business won’t be affected by medical bills.
A lot was at stake with this decision. I’m relieved my family will be able to stay covered and that so many others will continue to benefit from the health care reform law.
Ariane Speck is a small-business owner from Evergreen.
