Sebelius, Berkley, Titus promote new health care law

One of President Barack Obama's top advisers headlined an event Monday promoting the controversial new health care law.

But the stories of two Nevada families ­-- one of financial peril and one of personal tragedy -- stole the show.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, with Reps. Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus, D-Nev., organized the event to draw attention to what they say are beneficial aspects of the widely opposed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that Obama signed into law in March.

The aim of the Nevada swing by Sebelius was to help Berkley and Titus explain why they cast votes in favor of the measure. Titus is facing a tough re-election challenge from Republican physician Joe Heck in a state where polls have shown most respondents oppose the law.

"Our job is to get the word out about how this does impact people and their families," Sebelius said. "The notion that there is no one promoting the health care bill is just not accurate."

The event was timed to coincide with last Thursday's enactment date of several bill provisions and comes as Democrats nationwide are on the defensive over the issue.

Heck, who has said he supports some provisions, also said the overall bill will have a net negative effect because it will lead to higher health care costs and limit consumer choice.

"As a health care professional who works on the front lines of the health care battle, Joe knows we must repair and replace this health care monstrosity," Heck spokeswoman Mari Nakashima said .

It was testimony by Las Vegas-area residents Jeff Walters and Kelly Kosters, not the politics of health care, however, that held the attention of the audience of about 90 people for much of the 45-minute event at the Henderson Multigenerational Center.

Walters explained how neuroblastoma treatment costs for his 7-year-old son, Preston, exceeded by tens of thousands of dollars what the family's insurance will cover and how a relapse could be financially devastating.

A stem cell transplant that doctors said Preston needed was estimated to cost $120,000 -- 20 percent more than the lifetime cap on Walters' insurance.

"Before they would even treat my son, I had to come up with $20,000," he said.

The treatment appears to have worked, but it cost even more than the estimate, and the family has struggled to pay about $78,000 in out-of-pocket costs so far.

"If he relapses, I don't know that we can afford another transplant," Walters said.

Kosters cried as she told the audience how a bureaucratic dispute with an insurance company prevented her sister, Christy Annett, 30, from getting leukemia treatment before she died in 2009.

Kosters said Annett was diagnosed with leukemia in 1995, received treatment and, 10 years later, lost her health insurance after leaving a job as a kindergarten teacher.

Annett subsequently qualified for a policy through her new employer after telling the insurer, truthfully, it had been more than 10 years since she required cancer treatment.

But when the leukemia returned, the insurance company denied Annett's claim, Kosters said, because it alleged she didn't disclose the condition.

Multiple appeals through the company failed, and Annett, in need of a bone marrow transplant, couldn't afford the procedure or qualify for government assistance.

"She never was able to fight the insurance company," Kosters said, which meant Annett was left to seek blood transfusion treatment at University Medical Center, an option that was eliminated when the program was discontinued because of budget cuts.

In the months before Annett died, "she spent the whole time wondering why nobody outside our family ever cared enough to help her to live," Kosters said.

Titus said the stories from Walters and Kosters did more to explain the importance of the health care law than she, Sebelius or Berkley could by detailing legal provisions.

The stories were meant to illustrate provisions in the law to prevent insurers from enforcing lifetime coverage caps and dropping coverage of people who have pre-existing conditions.

"It takes an awful lot to get up in front of people and tell a personal story like that, and it means so much to all of us to hear it," Titus said after Kosters spoke. "We can talk about the statistics, we can talk about the points in the bill ... but when you hear a story like that, it just lets you know why it was so important to pass this legislation."

The event was the second major appearance by Sebelius in Nevada on Monday. Earlier, she attended a campaign event in Reno for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who is locked in a tough re-election campaign against Republican Sharron Angle, an opponent of the health care law. It was billed by the Reid campaign as a roundtable discussion about the benefits of health care legislation.

Sebelius was the second Obama Cabinet official to appear in Nevada with Democratic candidates in recent days. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis attended an event with labor union leaders Saturday in Henderson .

A Sebelius aide said the pro-Reid event was classified as a campaign appearance and will be paid for by the campaign. The event in Henderson was considered an official appearance and did not include any overt political activity or even mention the upcoming election.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said election season visits from Cabinet officials are a tool presidents of each party have commonly used for the benefit of incumbents from their own party.

"This is really quite typical close to any election. It was no different under Bush than it is under Obama," Sloan said. "They are promoting the president's agenda, which is appropriate for Cabinet officials."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.