Michelle’s Law « Main Street

Michelle’s Law

In 2003, 20 year old Michelle Morse was diagnosed with colon cancer. Her family soon learned that, at that age, for her to continue to be insured under her parents’ policy, she had to be a full-time student. Her family fought to find care for her that didn’t require her to remain a student, but ultimately, Michelle had to undergo “aggressive and debilitating” treatment while taking a full course load.

Michelle Morse died on November 10, 2005. Her mother, AnneMarie, had at one point been told by an insurer that if she didn’t like the fact that her daughter had to stay a student despite her illness, she should go change the law.

I doubt very much the insurance companies expected her to do that, but she did.

This month, Michelle’s Law went into effect on the federal level, “allowing seriously ill or injured college students to take up to 12 months of leave without losing coverage under their parents’ policy.”

AnneMarie Morse writes of the lessons she learned,

What I learned is that Michelle’s Law plugged one loophole, but so many people - especially cancer patients - continue to struggle with being able to afford the care that they need.

The good news is that the health care reform bills currently being debated by Congress represent a huge improvement for people fighting chronic diseases.

In their current form, the bills will ensure that no one will be denied coverage or charged a higher premium because of pre-existing medical conditions; place an increased emphasis on prevention; and eliminate annual and lifetime dollar caps on benefits. These are enormous steps forward. But the only way that we can benefit from this progress is for Congress to pass health care reform legislation this year.

Six years ago, I saw something very wrong with our health care system, and I set out to change it. Thankfully, starting tomorrow, college students will no longer suffer. But my fight continues. We cannot reduce death and suffering from cancer if our country does not improve access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans.