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Uninsured Utahns

For the Beaslin family, health insurance is unaffordable due to asthma, a pre-existing condition.



Dulsi and Adam Beaslin from Sandy are uninsured small business owners.  Dulsi owns a nail salon, and Adam has a carpet cleaning business.  Dulsi and two of their daughters have asthma.  Considered a pre-existing condition, asthma puts the cost of any health insurance policy out of reach for the Beaslin family.
 
For two years, the Beaslins had only catastrophic insurance.  Then one day, after Dulsi started having double vision, she became concerned that she might have had a mild stroke.  The insurance company instructed her to visit the emergency room where she was given a CAT scan. The bill for her visit came to $3,700, but the insurance company paid only $100.  “We dropped our insurance after that, as it was hardly any coverage at all,” says Dulsi.   

Today Dulsi and Adam have $10,000 in medical debt. They can’t afford the $300 monthly cost of the asthma medication for Dulsi and her daughters, so they go without.  “Our state and nation need health reform, so entrepreneurial families like mine can buy affordable health insurance regardless of pre-existing conditions and aren’t left praying that no one in our family gets sick,” says Dulsi. 


Policy Solution: Enact National Health Reforms

National health reforms will stop insurance company abuses that deny hard-working Utahns coverage because of a pre-existing condition. In addition, reforms will ensure Utahns can stay covered, despite ups and downs in their employment.
 
Furthermore, health reform will give small businesses the tools they need to provide coverage to their employees.  Eighty-eight percent of small businesses that don’t offer coverage say they cannot afford to do so.  Small businesses are the foundation of our economy. Reforms will give them proven incentives like tax credits, and the ability to pool their risk and increase their purchasing power. These and other changes will enable them to hire or retain quality employees and thus lead the way to economic recovery. This is the year to pass meaningful, comprehensive health reform that ensures all Utahns can access quality, affordable coverage.