The day Linda Drain put baby's breath in her hair and said "I do," she had no idea that government policies would tear her apart from her husband.
But 33 years later, she and her husband, Larry Drain, separated so she could keep her health insurance.
Six months into the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the Drains are among 162,000 Tennesseans who got caught in a coverage gap. Their household income is too little to qualify for a government subsidy to buy health insurance, and they live in a state not expanding Medicaid.
Their predicament was caused by a combination of Larry's decision to take early retirement from Social Security, which for some reason rendered his wife ineligible for her Supplemental Security income, and their Governor's decision to turn down the expansion of Medicaid offer3ed by the Affordable Care Act.
Mrs. Drain has epilepsy, and has undergone brain surgery, so her medications are quite expensive. Too expensive for the couple to afford without some assistance.
And Larry Drain is not taking any of this lying down:
Every day, Larry Drain writes a letter to Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam asking him to expand Medicaid and posts it on a blog.
"In some ways, it is like a virtual sit-in," he said. "I couldn't go sit in his office, but in some way I need to say, 'I am here. I am going to be here. I'm going to talk about things you don't want talked about.'"
It is inexcusable for this to happen in this country, and doubly so with the remedy so readily available in the form of an expanded Medicaid program.
If Tennessee simply had a Governor who was not a partisan asshole these nice people would not have to end a marriage that neither of them wants to end.
And here I thought the Republicans were the pro-traditional marriage people.
Tennessee is up there amongst the USA most corrupt states. I wonder how much the governor and his administration are getting in kickbacks and other handouts from the for profit insurance industry to do nothing with health care reform.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Who is getting the kickbacks from all the drug tests? If you take a pain pill you have to take a drug test now. We checked 1. insurance Company they will pay for 12 drug tests a year. How come we have to take drug tests now for everything.? Is it like Rick Scott in FL, his wife has drug testing CO.
Delete@4:16AM. I would have thought that ALL the health-related industries (pharma, hospitals etc.) would want every state to institute the ACA to help their bottom line, so why would any governor receive kickbacks? What am I missing here?
DeleteI feel very sorry for them but I can't help wondering how they vote.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
That was my thought. Sorry, but I will reserve my sympathy for now.
DeleteExactly! Nefer & Beaglemom!
DeletePlease add Mike Pence of Indiana to your Partisan asshole governor's list.
ReplyDeleteAs academics who lost their jobs, my family has been without health insurance for the past year. And no unemployment income. You see academic jobs generally don't START until August. So 6 months of unemployment ran out as well as health insurance long before our new jobs were secured.
The states have no control over medicare. They do have a say in medicaid. Why isn't this couple on Medicare? Not old enough yet?
ReplyDeleteIt says the husband took early retirement, so it sounds like they probably are not old enough for Medicare.
DeleteThey were married as teenagers - and are in their 50's now so have to wait another 10 years or so for medicare.
ReplyDeleteThe excuse: Tennessee can't afford the 10 percent match the state would have to start providing. Tennessee tried Medicaid expansion once before in the 1990s, then had to scale back and force people off the program because of cost overruns.
The Affordable Care Act offers subsidies to Tennessee couples making more than $15,510 to help buy insurance on the federal exchange. But couples like Larry and Linda Drain, who make less than that, get nothing.
The federal health law intended for the poorest people who were uninsured to obtain coverage through Medicaid expansion, but the U.S. Supreme Court took the teeth out of that part of the law, leaving the decision up to the states. Sadly, the red states can't and won't help the poor.
In Tennessee and most Southern states, couples who make less than $15,510 and individuals who make less than $11,490 are out of luck in getting any type of help toward obtaining health coverage.
I hope this couple remembers this come November and votes the Democratic ticket across the board.
ReplyDeleteI don't know enough about the particulars of their situation, but if the wife has epilepsy, and was covered under her husband's health care plan, why did he decide to "retire early", knowing his state didn't accept expanding Medicaid because their governor doesn't like Obamacare or the fact that there's a Black man in the White House?
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is, they've cut off their noses to spite their faces, after three years, the government will no longer handle their paperwork etc for free.
This shouldn't happen in a country like this. And the GOP "values" marriage, family values, and mom's apple pie.