Quotation for Today: Mr. Supreme Court Associate Justice, Medical Care Ain't Broccoli (Updated)

A parent's pain and worry about the commercially-insured care of a severely ill child are captured in the quotation for today.

During our first three weeks of hospitalization Mason racked up $1.1 million in medical bills. I worried about butting up against the $5 million lifetime limit on Mason’s health insurance policy. We had a good policy with a good company.  We always paid our premiums on time and in full. But Mason wasn’t getting out of the hospital at any time soon, and there were months of rehab ahead. My then 13-year-old son would have reached his lifetime limit of health insurance had such limits not been eliminated by Obamacare on April 1, 2011. That date felt like a birthday or anniversary, something to be celebrated, when it finally arrived and we weren’t yet dropped by our health insurance company.

Janine Urbaniak

Ms. Urbaniak is a writer who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area . Currently, Ms. Urbaniak is working on a collection of essays about surviving her son's brain tumor. As part of her compilation of essays on her son's brain tumor, she plans to examine the odd reality that comes with a diagnosis of childhood cancer.


Many heartfelt thanks to Ms. Urbaniak and her family for sharing this story about their son and brother, Mason. 


Ubaniak, Janine. "My 14 Year Old Son Has Brain Cancer -- Without Obamacare, We May Have Been Dropped By Our Insurance Company." AlterNet 4 April, 2011: online edition.


Related information:


Campbell, Andrea Louise. "Down the Insurance Rabbit Hole." The New York Times 4 April, 2012: online edition.