Due to an NPR interview about Obamacare, my cousin Mandy is now sitting with Michelle Obama. It's such an amazing experience for her and her son, who is staying at the White House residence to watch the speech with his grandmother.
The SOTU speech will reference her experience with finally having health care:
A pre-existing condition used to mean that someone like Amanda Shelley, a physician assistant and single mom from Arizona, couldn’t get health insurance. But on January 1st, she got covered. On January 3rd, she felt a sharp pain. On January 6th, she had emergency surgery. Just one week earlier, Amanda said, that surgery would’ve meant bankruptcy.
That’s what health insurance reform is all about – the peace of mind that if misfortune strikes, you don’t have to lose everything.
I can't imagine what that Mandy is thinking right now, but all I know is that I'm so proud and thrilled that she is sitting in that gallery right now.
Update: here is a link to the interview on NPR. She is near the end of the story.
Meet the Health Care First Timers