There is a standing line with me and that is “don’t look at the folks fighting each other, look instead to see those who benefit from their fighting.” You see, whenever I see a group of folks fighting against another group, there is someone somewhere who benefits from the fighting. The benefactors create the chaos so no one sees who they are, thus they can get away with absolute murder. I won’t bore you with a long-winded discussion on how we can sometimes end up with a bad case of Anton’s Blindness, thinking we can see when we cannot see.

Creating chaos is a practice that has been carried out throughout history. It is actually a very useful tool. That notwithstanding, while we cuss and discuss and debate whether the reform bill passed will or will not hurt us in the future, the bottom line is people die or go bankrupt in their quest for health care. It is an awful and vicious cycle.

Today the Dallas News covers a few of those folks who may benefit from the recent bill. The Dallas News asked the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based nonprofit, nonpartisan group that promotes health care improvements, to analyze how the legislation will affect certain Dallas residents. Sara Collins, vice president of the Affordable Health Insurance program at the Commonwealth Fund, took on the task and the article highlights the benefits.

The first family highlighted is the Null Family. When their young daughter was 7-years-old, she suffered acute liver failure. “Her care, which included a liver transplant, has cost more than $1 million. The family’s insurance policy at the time had a $25,000 lifetime maximum per medical event, which was quickly maxed out. The family ended up on Medicaid.”

When the family sought insurance, they actually heard the following: “I had an agent tell me, ‘Don’t waste your time applying; we won’t even review it,’ if the application included Tatum.”

Under the new bill, lifetime maximums and banning a person due to pre-existing conditions are no longer. The father ends with “she doesn’t have to work for a large corporation … to get benefits.” Well, that’s provided they don’t do a background check which a lot of companies are doing these days.

Two entrepreneurs, Gwen and Alan Lummus who run an online book accessories store called BookMateStore.com, are in Texas’ high-risk insurance pool, paying about $750 a month each in premiums with a deductible of $7,500 each. Both believe the health care act as a step in the right direction. Alan has diabetes “so none of his insulin is covered,” said Gwen, 61. “That’s all out of our pocket.” Alan said he’ll likely be on Medicare before many of the money-saving benefits kick in.

For many who are trying to build a business and are years away from medicare, $1,500 per month plus $7,500 in deductibles is out of reach. Instead, they opt to go without insurance and will hit the emergency room if they should need care. This will cost all of us in the end.

For some, the other government program, medicare, provides relief from some of the burdens they have been carrying. For others — particularly the young — the new reforms provide relief with no lifetime maximums and no denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

It’s a good article because it shows who will and will not benefit from the reform.

Source: Dallas News: Health care law becomes personal for Dallas-area families