Should the U.S. Supreme Court rule as illegal the insurance subsidies provided under the Affordable Care Act in Louisiana and 30 other states that use the federal website healthcare.gov, the number of uninsured people in the affected states would rise by 8.2 million in 2016, according to recent Senate testimony by Linda Blumberg, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute.
To detail how those among that 8.2 million figure might be impacted by a ruling against the Affordable Care Act, news organizations National Public Radio, Kaiser Health News and Connecticut-based WNPR radio recently collaborated to send WNPR reporter Jeff Cohen—a New Orleans native—to Louisiana. Cohen spent three days driving through the state and speaking with people who say their financial independence is riding on the latest health law case before the Supreme Court.
Sitting at her kitchen table in the Baton Rouge home she owns by herself, Sheron Bazille told Cohen that she had a good job that offered benefits—such as health insurance—but that she got sick and had to stop working.
“It was either me or my job. And my life and my health was more important,” she says.
Bazille, 62, retired early, and she says leaving her job of 10 years meant losing her insurance—and some of her dignity, too. Now, under Obamacare, she has subsidized insurance. She knows exactly how much her share is down to the penny: $219.01. The coverage has given her a sense of security, she says, because she can take care of her health and her health care bills.
“Peace. I have peace now that I know I have hospitalization [coverage],” says Bazille. “If anything happens, I can go to the hospital.”
Bazille worries the Supreme Court justices could take away that peace. Asked what she would tell the justices if she could, she says: “Think about your kids, your family. If they could not afford to pay for health insurance. Wouldn’t you want someone to help them?”
