Utahns say health care reform will help them, their families

For some time now, James Stockton has been stockpiling insulin and testing supplies for the day when he and his type 1 diabetes would no longer be covered by his parents' health insurance policy.

But Stockton, just a few days shy of his 23rd birthday, now has a reprieve. The BYU junior is one of thousands of Utahns who will be affected by expanded benefits under a historic health care reform bill signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama.

By the end of the year, insurers will be required to keep young adults on their parents' health care plans until they turn 26, and insurers will no longer be able to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. The bill also provides tax credits for small businesses that provide health insurance and will give seniors facing high costs a $250 Medicare rebate this year.

"I've been worried," said Tanya Wilson, a 25-year-old BYU-Hawaii student who has been living without health insurance for five years.

Wilson was dropped from her father's policy when she moved away for college. She's been unable to afford her own health insurance because she was diagnosed with a hormone imbalance.

"It's just too expensive," Wilson said. "If I have to choose between my groceries and rent and health insurance, I'm going to take that risk."

While the passage and signing of the bill has been met with fiery opposition from Republicans, health care proponents say reform was badly needed.

"We hear stories every day," said Jessica Kendrick of the nonprofit Utah Health Policy Project. "Everybody has a family member or friend or neighbor who has some kind of health care story. These reforms are finally addressing those barriers that Utahns are facing every day.

"I think we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," Kendrick said. "This is going to be a process. A lot of major pieces of reform aren't implemented for four years. There's going to be time to get it right."

For Dulsi Beaslin, the bill's small-business tax credits that help cover up to 35 percent of premiums will allow her to afford insurance for the young women who work at her Holladay nail salon.

The new requirements surrounding pre-existing conditions mean Beaslin's children finally can be covered for their asthma and juvenile arthritis.

"We were considered uninsurable, as far as we could afford," she said. "We had been denied many times. It will be nice when we (Beaslin and her husband) can be covered as well, but at least my children will have insurance."