‘This thing is working’? Widows of Alabama county workers dropped from health plans
As President Obama touts rising enrollment in ObamaCare and declares "this thing is working," one Alabama county has reported another negative side effect from the law -- widows of county workers getting dropped from their insurance.
A report by Huntsville-based WHNT said that more than a dozen widows of retired Madison County employees lost their coverage earlier this year.
They originally had been covered under the county's self-insured plan. But, according to WHNT, officials learned that it would have been too expensive to keep providing that coverage and comply with the Affordable Care Act's coverage mandates.
The county instead joined a statewide network that dozens of county governments already are in. That plan, though, does not offer coverage to husbands and wives when their government employee spouses die.
WHNT reported that one county commissioner is trying to restore the insurance for widows of county workers, though it's unclear whether he'll be successful.
"What I'm trying to do is get this coverage back to them," Madison County Commissioner Roger Jones said. "A lot of these people are on fixed incomes. Some of them are living on Social Security and very little else, and health insurance is very important to them."
The widows reportedly still get 18 months of Cobra coverage once their old insurance expires.
The Madison County case comes as the Obama administration aggressively steps up its defense of the law and its performance. At a surprise press conference on Thursday, Obama reported that 8 million people have signed up on the federal and state insurance exchanges.
"This thing is working," Obama said, adding: "The repeal debate is and should be over."
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