Remember in 2008 when President Obama told the story, many times, about his fight with the insurance companies to cover his mother’s medical bills while fighting ovarian cancer? He used this story as an example of why the big bad health insurers need reigning in, the whole health care system needing to be revamped from top to bottom. (Never mind that 85% of the public was happy with their coverage at the time.)
As it turns out, after a little digging by Byron York, President Obama’s mother did fight with an insurer to cover some of her medical expenses, attorney Obama helping her out as any good son would do. The problem is that the fight was with a disability insurer, not the health insurance company that paid every cent they were liable for. The Obama’s wanted the disability insurer to pay for Mrs. Dunham’s, (President Obama’s mother,) deductibles, co-insurance, and living expenses during her losing, unfortunately, battle with cancer. The insurer denied the claim, stating that her condition was a pre-existing condition that she was aware of, and had sought treatment for, before the disability policy was issued.
So the question is this… assuming our president is an honest, highly intelligent, and just individual, why didn’t he simply push for disability insurance reform?